Politics LIVE: Sue Gray report: Boris Johnson holding press conference
The Prime Minister faced fresh demands to resign after Sue Gray’s report said the public would be “dismayed” by a series of breaches of coronavirus rules in No 10 and Westminster.
“The events that I investigated were attended by leaders in government. Many of these events should not have been allowed to happen,” she said.
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Hide AdThe Metropolitan Police has issued 126 fines for rule breaches in No 10 and Whitehall, with the Prime Minister receiving a single fixed-penalty notice for his birthday party.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner described the contents of the report as “indefensible”, calling Mr Johnson’s Downing Street “rotten from the very top”.
“He set the culture. It happened on his watch. It’s on him,” she added.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford branded the report “damning” and called the Prime Minister to resign for “orchestrating” the scenes in Downing Street.
Labour said there was now “no doubt” that Mr Johnson had “lied” to MPs.
You can follow the latest in our live blog.
Politics: Partygate row as it happened: Pressure mounts on Boris Johnson as he faces questions after new photos emerge
Boris Johnson begins with thanking Sue Gray for her report, and says he commissioned it to get to the bottom of what had happened - he says the events outlined in the report have left him humbled.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has repeated his apology over his fine for attending a birthday gathering for Boris Johnson during lockdown but said he wanted to “move forward”.
He tweeted: “I’m grateful to Sue Gray for her report and I sincerely repeat my apologies for the event I received a fine for.
“The Prime Minister has apologised and lessons have been learned. I hope we can now move forward and continue delivering for the British people.”
Prior to fielding questions, Boris Johnson says he has changed the way No 10 works in response to Partygate.
He says he has personally apologised to cleaners and security staff at No 10 for the way they were treated.
The BBC’s Chris Mason asks what he would say to viewers who believe he would lie to get out of a political storm.
The PM says he has explained what has happened and that he went to work events to say bye to colleagues. He adds that the pictures were just part of his role as Prime Minister.
In response to The Sun’s question, he says that he has started to make enquiries in to who treated cleaning staff and security staff poorly. He adds that he did not ask Sue Gray to not publish the report.
Boris Johnson once again adds that he did not believe rules were broken saying: “I believe that they were work events, they were part of my job. That view appears to be substantive by the fact that I wasn’t fined for those events.”
When asked about the actions of Martin Reynolds and why boasting about “getting away with it” was not stopped - Boris Johnson says he did not want to comment on individuals.
Boris Johnson says that he understands the anger felt by many across Britain, but that it was his job to serve the people in the country - he said that he did not consider resigning and that the press office believed they were holding work events.
Boris Johnson is asked what were you, your wife, and five aides doing in your flat for several hours on the night of 13 November 2020.
Boris Johson says that was a work meeting. The Met police investigated it, and that is what they concluded.
After taking around 30 minutes of questions, the PM leaves the press conference.
The Prime Minister said he had begun making inquiries about which staff had been rude to security and cleaning staff in No 10 and Whitehall.
Addressing a Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson said: “On the behaviour of staff and alleged rudeness, I don’t know who is specifically guilty of that.
“In the course of my apologies today, I began to make some inquiries and I will, of course, continue them.
“As I said earlier on, I think it is utterly intolerable for people to be rude to hard-working staff.
“At the very least, they should apologise but I don’t yet have the names of those who were responsible.”