No 10 officials receive fines for BYOB party Boris Johnson attended, sources tell ITV News
ITV News' Shehab Khan offers insight after several Number 10 officials received fines over an infamous 'bring your own booze' event in the Downing Street garden in May 2020.
Some government officials have been fined by police in relation to a 'bring your own booze' event in the Number 10 garden which Boris Johnson attended, ITV News has been told.
Two sources told Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana that fine emails relating to the May 20, 2020 garden party have begun landing in staff inboxes, however it is unclear whether the prime minister is one to receive a Fixed Penalty Notice.
It would be the PM's second partygate fine, after he was fined for breaking lockdown rules in June 2020, when attending his own birthday celebration.
ITV News Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana provides analysis on the situation
Two sources have confirmed that some officials who attended a Downing Street garden party, which told people to “bring their own booze” on May 20, 2020, have received police fines.
The event was briefly attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he claimed to have never seen the original email, and that the garden party was in his diary as a work event.
Downing Street has said he has not received a fine yet.
What happens around this event could have a major impact on the mood of MPs - with some telling me that they are furious after Thursday's U-turn in Parliament.
The public is unlikely to find out whether Mr Johnson has been fined until after the local elections on May 5, as the Metropolitan Police said it would not release any further updates during the pre-election period.
A Met spokesman said: "While the investigation will continue during the pre-election period, due to the restrictions around communicating before the May local elections we will not provide further updates until after 5 May."
Downing Street said Mr Johnson has not received a fine in the latest tranche of Fixed Penalty Notices.
If he received another fine it will be double his first, which was £100 reduced to £50 because he paid it within 14 days.
Previous rules said repeat offenders would have their fines double with each subsequent offence, up to a maximum of £6,400.
An email invite shared exclusively with ITV News confirmed the garden party took place.
The invite, sent by the PM's former Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds, told over a hundred employees in Number 10, including the prime minister's advisors, speechwriters and door staff.
The email, during the height of the UK's first nationwide Covid lockdown, said staff could "make the most of the lovely weather".
It said: "After what has been an incredibly busy period we thought it would be nice to make the most of the lovely weather and have some socially distanced drinks in the No10 garden this evening. Please join us from 6pm and bring your own booze!"
Mr Johnson has admitted attending the party but claimed he believed it was a work event.
In January this year he confirmed he had joined the event for about 25 minutes from around 6pm, saying that the No 10 garden was being used as “an extension of the office”.
“With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside,” he said, while arguing that the event “could be said, technically, to fall within the guidance”.