The committee, chaired by long-serving Labor MP Harriet Harman but with a majority of Conservative members, has written to Johnson with a list of items they would like to consider. Includes calendar entries for eight named event dates. briefing packs for the Prime Minister’s appearances in Parliament between December 2021 and May 2022; and photos of the dates, including Johnson’s photographer Andy Parsons. Harman and her colleagues also wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case asking him to draw the attention of Cabinet Office staff to their call for evidence and promising to “carry out a site visit”. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST The evidence they are seeking also includes log files for No. 10. any legal advice given to Johnson or his office about the events that took place on the eight dates; and the number of civil servants at each grade who have been disciplined for the anti-lockdown rallies. Johnson has repeatedly assured MPs in the Commons that “guidance was followed and the rules followed at all times” in Downing Street during the pandemic. When video surfaced of his then-press secretary Allegra Stratton joking with colleagues about a “cheese and wine” gathering last December, Johnson said he was “shocked.” But after senior civil servant Sue Gray described a sordid culture during the lockdown that included spilling red wine and vomiting, Johnson acknowledged that he had briefly attended some events to give farewell speeches to departing staff, but said it was his duty. However, former colleagues have suggested he witnessed some of the behavior in question and occasionally encouraged staff to relax with a drink – and that the No 10 was too young not to know what was going on. The panel is set to begin oral hearings in September. It has significant powers over sitting MPs – Johnson could be banned from the Commons if he is found to have misled the House or failed to cooperate, for example – but few possible sanctions on former members. Johnson’s allies have said he plans to remain in parliament as an MP, holding his successor’s feet to the fire on issues such as the rise and the conflict in Ukraine. But many Tory MPs expect him to follow the lead of David Cameron, who said after the 2016 referendum he would stay on but quit once his successor, Theresa May, was appointed. Johnson received just one fixed penalty notice following the Metropolitan Police’s Partygate investigation, for attending a birthday party in the Cabinet Room in June 2020. Rishi Sunak, Tory leadership candidate and then chancellor, was fined for the same event. Johnson remains unrepentant about Partygate, with his communications director Guto Hari telling ITV News on Thursday that the outgoing prime minister was “carrying the can for other people’s bad behaviour”. He also claimed that former Downing Street aides had “dedicated their lives to bringing down the Prime Minister”. A No 10 spokesman said the Prime Minister was prepared to assist the committee in its investigation. “We have recently received these letters and requests, which we will now look into properly,” they said. “As we have said in the past, we will assist the committee in its inquiries, but once we have had time to review the letters and requests you will have seen this morning, we will present our response to the committee in due course.”
