'People who say that that event was a purely social gathering are quite wrong' - Former PM, Boris Johnson on garden gathering in May 2020. 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
No 'direct assurances' that gatherings followed COVID guidance
Mr Johnson is also probed on a comment he repeated to the House of Commons, that"rules were followed at all times" - a line that was initially prepped in response to a story in the Daily Mirror. There has been criticism of Downing Street's decision to publish them today, amid the earlier vote on the Windsor Framework and this televised inquisition of Mr Johnson.It has taken 148 days.This included paying £432,493 in the 2021/22 financial year.'It was essential to thank staff for their work'
Asked if he is saying whether he thought these gatherings were so critical that it was permissible to hold them even if though they couldn't be socially distanced, he says:"The short answer is yes.""I think that even though the pictures seem to show festive events... I think that efforts, even in those pictures, are being made to do social distancing.
Mr Johnson said he did so because they were the people who had been at the events in question and believed they would give"a view about the legality" of the situations. We are now halfway through the privileges committee inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled parliament. In his view, he says, all the other events he attended must have been deemed by the Met Police to be non-rule breaking events as he was not issued with a fine. "The one for which I received an FPN, which boggles my mind because I couldn't understand why I got it, and the others where I wasn't rule breaking at the time and believed we were following the guidance."The privileges committee is chaired by Labour's Harriet Harman, but has a Tory majority...
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