UK PM accused of attending 'BYOB' party amid COVID-19 lockdown curbs in May 2020: Report

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of personally attending a “BYOB”, meaning ‘Bring Your Own Bottle or Booz’, party in the No. 10 garden during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. According to the Sunday Times, three sources have stated that Johnson’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds had invited officials by email urging them to “BYOB”. It is reported that Johnson attended the event with his wife, Carrie in May 2020 despite the strict Coronavirus restrictions in England which banned outdoor gatherings.

The media outlet quoted a witness as saying, “There were 40 people in the garden, including Boris and Carrie. There were long tables laden with drink, crisps, sausage rolls and other picnic food. It was a proper booze-up.”

The latest Sunday Times report came after Johnson’s former top adviser, Dominic Cummings alleged that there was a lockdown-breaking party in the Downing Street garden just five days after British PM and around 17 staff members were pictured with wine and cheese. According to The Guardian, Cummings has said that people were invited to “socially distanced drinks” on May 20, 2020, by a senior official in Downing Street. Johnson’s ex-adviser has claimed that he had warned the prime minister at the time that the party appeared to be violating the rules amid the COVID-19 pandemic but it went ahead regardless.

Sue Gray is leading the probe into May 20 gathering

The probe into lockdown-gatherings in Downing Street and across other government officials is being led by Sue Gray, a veteran Cabinet Office official. However, the investigation reportedly widened on Friday night to include the drinks party alleged by Cummings along with the cheese and wine gathering on May 15, 2020. The get-together with wine and cheese involving government officials was revealed in a picture published by The Guardian in December 2021.

The photograph, shared by the media outlet, showed Johnson, his wife and 17 other officials in the Downing Street garden during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the country. The Guardian cited its sources saying that the gathering went on late into the evening even though Downing Street had insisted that the image published showed a work meeting and UK PM went to his family with his family after 7 PM that day (local time).

Image: AP