Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has demanded Boris Johnson be “honest with the public” over fresh allegations of lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.
Rayner accused Downing Street of engaging in “spin” after ministers defended a photograph which appeared to show the prime minister, his partner Carrie and several others enjoying cheese and wine in the No.10 garden in May last year.
Downing Street has insisted work meetings often took place in the garden, but the photo was taken at a time when restrictions on meeting others were still in place.
But Rayner said: “Necessary work meetings seem to look very different in Downing Street than they did on the front line of the NHS, in social care, or for any of our heroic key workers.
“The wine, the cheese and the lounging around seems to indicate this wasn’t quite the formal work setting Downing Street is trying to spin, but Sue Gray’s investigation must get to the bottom of this.
“It’s about time Boris Johnson was honest with the public.”
Downing Street has found itself in the spotlight once again after the Guardian published the photo, which also showed 17 other staff members in the garden on May 15, 2020, with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard on a table in front of the PM.
On Monday morning deputy prime minister Dominic Raab defended the gathering, saying the No.10 garden was often “used for work”.
“It’s a place of work, they are all in suits, or predominately in formal attire,” the deputy prime minister told Sky News.
Asked to examine what people in the photo were wearing, Raab added: “Some of them have taken their jackets off.”
In a separate interview with BBC Breakfast, also defended the gathering. “This wasn’t a social occasion, it was staff having a drink after meetings,” he said.
Labour’s David Lammy accused Raab over “undermining public health messaging” with his “mendacious” defence of the alleged gathering.
“Depressing to see the deputy PM trotted out to spout mendacious nonsense in defense of Boris Johnson’s flagrant disregard for the rules,” he wrote.
“This kind of double-talk isn’t just embarrassing for Dominic Raab, it is undermining public health messaging.”
The May gathering is one of a number which have been reported across Whitehall during coronavirus restrictions.
Senior civil servant Sue Gray has been tasked with investigating the reports after Cabinet Secretary Simon Case was removed from the probe after it was revealed he had known about a quiz held in his department.
While the emergence of the garden photo has sparked anger, there is some dispute as to whether rules were actually broken.
Human rights barrister Adam Wagner said he was “doubtful it was against the law”, but that it may have been against guidance.
He said on Twitter that regulations at the time stated “you couldn’t be outside the place you were living without a reasonable excuse” and that working would be qualify as a reason.
However, on the same day the photo was taken, then health secretary Matt Hancock told the daily coronavirus briefing: “People can now spend time outdoors and exercise as often as you like – and you can meet one other person from outside your household in an outdoor, public place. But please keep two metres apart.”
He added: “Please stick with the rules, keep an eye on your family and don’t take risks.”