Boris Johnson claimed No 10 drinks party was for official who didn’t leave until month later

Boris Johnson has been urged to correct his Partygate inquiry testimony after he was found to have claimed a No 10 party marked the exit of the top civil servant who did not resign until a month later.

The former Tory prime minister claimed the notorious “bring your own booze” garden party on 20 May 2020 had been aimed at motivating staff because cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill had quit.

But Mr Sedwill did not resign until 29 June 2020 – more than a month later – revealing he would step down from his top Downing Street role in September.

Claiming the drinks gathering was purely a work event, an angry Mr Johnson told MPs: “People who say we were partying in lockdown simply do not know what they are talking about.

“People who say that that event was a purely social gathering are quite wrong,” the ex-PM said of the garden event – at which Mr Johnson and were seen with staff drinking bottles of wine.

The former PM added: “My purpose there was to thank staff, was to motivate them in what had been a very difficult time – and what was also a very difficult day in which the cabinet secretary had just resigned.”

But Mr Johnson’s former top adviser Dominic Cummings said the “bring your own booze” garden party “had nothing to do with assuring staff after cabinet secretary resignation”.

Mr Cummings said MPs on the cross-party privileges committee would have to write to Mr Johnson “confirming that a resignation in June could not possibly have been his justification for holding an event in May”.

Mr Johnson is now fighting for his political future after committee chair Harriet Harman and the MPs investigating his Partygate denials denounced the “flimsy” assurances they were based on.

At Wednesday’s showdown hearing, Mr Johnson:

• Claimed he would have been “utterly insane” to knowingly lie to parliament after swearing an oath on the Bible

• Described leaving drinks staff during lockdown as “essential” and complained of “cramped” townhouse at No 10

• Boasted staff in No 10 “didn’t touch each other’s pens” – but admitted that “of course” they had passed each other drinks

Senior Tory MP Caroline Nokes said Mr Johnson’s comeback hopes were “finished”, as the committee gave short shrift to the ex-PM’s explanations and suggested he had failed to correctly interpret his own Covid guidance or seek proper assurances.

Asked if Mr Johnson is finished if he is punished by the committee, Ms Nokes told ITV’s Peston: “I think that Boris Johnson is finished anyway. I think there was a very clear message from his own ministers back in the summer that they didn’t want him to carry on.”

Offering his verdict on Thursday’s hearing, Will Walden, Mr Johnson’s former communication chief, said: “He’ll be wanting to tell himself it’s all alright – but I don’t think it is, really. It was a bit of mess. He was churlish, frustrated, disbelieving, stroppy, shameless.”

Mr Walden added: “A man with an elastic relationship with the truth, swearing on a bible to tell the truth about whether in the past he told the truth or not – I mean you literally couldn’t make it up.”

Bernard Jenkin, the most senior Tory MP on the committee, told Mr Johnson: “The guidance does not say you can have a thank you party and as many people in the room as you like.”

Senior Tory Sir Bernard Jenkin questioned why Mr Johnson failed to take “proper advice” from the government’s legal experts on the Covid rules and guidance.

It also emerged on Wednesday that the former PM had been warned by his principle private secretary Martin Reynolds against claiming all guidance had been followed – but went ahead and claimed it had in the Commons.

Mr Johnson also indicated he may refuse to accept the inquiry’s verdict if it finds he committed a contempt of parliament by deliberately misleading the Commons – saying he would “wait to see”.

The remark was echoed by Conservative chairman Greg Hands when asked if the committee was being fair to Mr Johnson. “We’ll have to wait and see,” he told Peston. “I think it’s impossible to judge that until we see the report.”

If a suspension of at least 10 days is voted through by MPs, a by-election in Mr Johnson’s seat could be triggered, potentially spelling the end of his parliamentary career.

But many Tory MPs believe the committee may stop short of a 10-day suspension as punishment – even though they expect him to be found guilty of “recklessly” misleading the Commons.

Arch-loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed Boris Johnson had “won” public support with his defences – despite them being met with exasperation by multiple members of the cross-party panel of MPs grilling him

The senior Tory MP told Channel 4 News: “Boris Johnson today has won in the court of public opinion.”

He added: “I think that if Boris Johnson went to a by-election he would win it comfortably. Because I think he’s winning in the court of public opinion, who see this as a kangaroo court.”

Mr Rees-Mogg’s remarkable claim about the “court of public opinion” comes as the latest YouGov poll shows 72 per cent of the public think Mr Johnson is dishonest (while only 13 per cent believe he is honest).

Labour MP Chris Bryant, who recused himself from leading the inquiry, told the BBC: “I got the impression [Mr Johnson] knows perfectly well the rules weren’t followed.”

“He’s always known the rule weren’t perfectly – and he’s always sort of tried to cover it up ... His mind is very, very muddled. I think he knows deep in his heart he’s got this wrong from the very beginning but he can’t own up to it.”