UK partygate report: Boris Johnson's staff got drunk, brawled during COVID lockdown party

The long-awaited investigation into the lockdown-breaking parties in Whitehall and Downing Street suggests that the staff members who were present at UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's birthday party got drunk, puked and engaged in fights. There was a six-pack of beers and hundreds of sandwiches. Senior civil servant Sue Gray released the report on Wednesday and condemned a culture of rule-breaking events. The report included additional photos of Johnson at two different meetings.

Gray stated that the top leadership at the centre of Johnson's government "must bear culpability" for allowing the parties to take place. She went on to say that some of the behaviour she investigated, such as extreme alcohol intake has "no explanation." Email logs were also made public, including several in which employees openly discussed hiding their party from the press. 

In an email exchange, staff were told to avoid walking around waving bottles of wine while reporters were in the building. Gray also discovered that Johnson spent around half an hour at a garden party in May 2020, where around 30-40 people were present. Staff were invited to "socially distanced drinks" in the Downing Street garden.

Sue Gray investigated around 16 gatherings

Sue Gray investigated around 16 gatherings attended by Johnson and his staff in 2020 and 2021 while people in the United Kingdom were barred from socialising. Scottish National Party, Ian Blackford said, "The reports of the Prime Minister COVID law-breaking has been damning. Bottles of liquors. Rooms were so crowded. People were sitting on each other's laps and security forces intervened because the parties were so outrageous and at the centre was the Prime Minister, gulping a glass for himself."

PM Johnson said that he is"humbled" and has learned his lesson before Parliament shortly after the report was released. He also said that he takes full responsibility for everything that happened on his watch. He did, however, reiterate previous assertions that the parties only became worse after he departed. The Prime Minister was confronted with multiple calls for his resignation from MPs, but he consistently refused. 

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer slammed Johnson in Parliament

The findings raise major questions about whether Johnson lied to MPs when he denied that parties took place. Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer slammed him in Parliament on Wednesday, saying that the investigation proves definitively how individuals within the building regarded the sacrifices of the British people. He further said that this report will be a monument to an administration that believed there was one rule for them and another for everyone else, according to CNN. Talking to Johnson, Starmer said that he can't be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker at the same time and that it's time for him to leave. 

Image: AP