10 January 2022updated 12 Jan 2022 5:26pm

The Downing Street party scandal is closing in on Boris Johnson

As the evidence against him accumulates, the Prime Minister’s strategy of blaming his staff is ever less credible.

Photo by Kirsty O'Connor/Pool via REUTERS

Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure over the question of Downing Street parties after an email leaked to ITV News revealed that one of his officials invited over a hundred No 10 staff to “socially distanced drinks” during the national lockdown in May 2020.

The leak reveals that the Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary, Martin Reynolds, wrote the following to Downing Street staff on 20 May: “After what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of this lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden this evening. Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze!”