Six days ago, on a quiet Friday afternoon, Dominic Cummings emailed the followers of his Substack newsletter. In that email he pushed back against the idea that a leaked aerial photo of him, Boris Johnson and others in the Downing Street garden on 15 May depicted a “party”. The assorted gatherings that afternoon, Cummings claimed, were merely an extension of the working day. Instead, he argued that the inquiry by the cabinet civil servant, Sue Gray, into whether No 10 staff broke lockdown rules “should investigate the ‘Socially Distanced Drinks’ email sent on Wednesday 20 May 2020”.
Within 90 minutes, ITV’s political editor Robert Peston reported that Martin Reynolds, the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary, was the source of the email. Within 72 hours, Paul Brand of ITV had been leaked Reynolds’ email to staff, inviting them to “bring [their] own booze” to the garden drinks.
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