Benny Andersson has distanced ABBA from reports their music was played during one of the alleged parties at Downing Street.
The singer has insisted that the supposed No.10 event where the Swedish group’s songs were reportedly played was not an “ABBA party” but a “Johnson party where they happened to play some ABBA music”.
The Mail On Sunday previously reported that their music could be heard coming from the prime minister’s flat at a reported party on 13 November 2020, when England was in lockdown.
Reacting to the claims, Benny told the PA news agency: “You can’t call it an ABBA party. It is a Johnson party where they happened to play some ABBA music. It is not an ABBA party.”
He added: “You see how he wriggles himself out of this.”
Fellow ABBA star Bjorn Ulvaeus reacted with surprise, saying: “I mean, wow. Did they only play Abba music? Are you kidding? Of course they played other music as well.”
Last week, Dominic Cummings said he had spoken to people who were in No.10, when an alleged gathering in Johnson’s Downing Street flat took place.
The prime minister’s former chief aide also alleged witnesses would say ABBA could be heard playing from the apartment above the press office.
The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating 12 separate gatherings in No.10 and Whitehall during 2020 and 2021 – including three that Johnson is known to have attended and the one in the PM’s Downing Street flat – to find out whether lockdown laws were broken.
Hundreds of documents and photographs were passed to the police as evidence by the investigation team led by senior official Sue Gray, whose interim report last Monday highlighted “failures of leadership and judgment” at the heart of government.
Downing Street also said Johnson will reveal if he has been hit with a fine for breaching coronavirus rules.