Hunt for ‘insider’ who leaked picture of Boris Johnson, Carrie and aides with cheese and wine

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Boris Johnson’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings and ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock are claimed to have been among government staff pictured ‘working’ in the Downing Street garden during lockdown.

The leaked photo of the garden gathering showed the Prime Minister, his then-fiancee Carrie and 17 other staff members in the garden on May 15, 2020, with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard on a table in front of Mr Johnson. 

According to reports, those pictured apparently include Hancock, who had earlier that day urged Britons to follow rules and not meet more than one person outside, and Cummings, according to The Telegraph.

It comes as it emerged the hunt is on for a Whitehall insider with an ‘animus’ against Boris Johnson suspected of leaking the picture of a get-together at No 10.

Dominic Raab said it was clear that whoever made the photograph public wanted to ‘damage the Government’.

The image of the garden gathering with wine and cheese, taken during the first national lockdown, was apparently taken from a first floor veranda at the back of No 11 Downing Street, where the Chancellor’s offices are.

A No 10 source said that the office ‘was used by Rishi Sunak’s people, and anybody else going in would have been noticed.’

But the Treasury angrily denied it was responsible, with a source saying: ‘It was not anyone in the No 11 team. That room is accessible to anyone working in Downing Street.’

Now the hunt is on for the so-called ‘snappy rat’. The phrase is a play on the ‘chatty rat’ scandal, when someone leaked plans for a second national lockdown last year.

A ‘chatty pig’ was also accused of briefing against Mr Johnson after he made a speech praising Peppa Pig World.

It was claimed today that some of those who attended the event were some of Mr Johnson’s top team such as Hancock and Cummings. 

At the time the photo was taken, restrictions on meeting others were still in place and earlier that day, then-health secretary Matt Hancock had 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.’ 

The attendees also appeared to include the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, his private secretary Imran Shafi, his official spokesperson James Slack and his former Chief Press Officer on Foreign Affairs Jess Seldon.

Amid a series of claims about parties at Downing Street and in Whitehall during lockdown, campaigners said the new photograph showed the Prime Minister ‘presided over a culture of believing that the rules applied only to other people since early in the pandemic’.

It was taken on Friday May 15, 2020, when people were only allowed to socialise outside with one other person, socially distanced.

Thousands could not see dying loved ones in hospital or relatives in care homes.

Last night Mr Johnson defended the gathering, saying: ‘This is where I live, this is where I work; Those were meetings of people at work, talking about work.’

Sources said the photograph was probably taken from one of the state rooms used by the Chancellor’s special advisers and civil servants. Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls claimed it was shot from ‘the 11 Downing Street first floor balcony’.

Mr Raab, asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether he believed ‘someone or some group’ was ‘dripping out leaks to bring Boris Johnson down’, said ‘it’s certainly being done with an animus’ to ‘damage the government’.

The deputy prime minister added that the gathering was not a party because the attendees were wearing business suits.

He told Times Radio: ‘Downing Street used that garden as a place of work. They used it for work meetings.

‘The photo is from a day when, I think, the Prime Minister had just done a press conference.

‘And sometimes they’ll have a drink after a long day or a long week. And that’s not against the regulations.’

The photo, obtained by The Guardian, showed Mr Johnson, his then-fiancee Carrie and 17 staff members in the garden with bottles of wine and a cheese board on a table in front of the Prime Minister.

Mr Raab said: ‘It is not just a place of work for all the staff that work in No 10 and the Prime Minister, but it is also the residence of the Prime Minister and his very young family.’

Earlier on the 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.’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday: ‘To suggest that that is a work meeting is a bit of a stretch by anybody’s analysis.

‘I think there are very serious questions to be answered, but just look at the photo and ask yourself: Is that a work meeting going on or is that a social event? I think the answer is pretty obvious.’

Jo Goodman, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: ‘This supposed work meeting, with no pen, paper or laptop in sight, instead replaced with vital cheese and wine, shows that [the Prime Minister] presided over a culture of believing that the rules applied only to other people since early in the pandemic.’

Twitter users contrasted the photo with their own stories of being separated from loved ones at the time.

One shared a picture of her son seeing his grandmother through a window, while another told how she was banned from sitting with her mother in her garden shortly before she died.

The gathering is one of about a dozen which reportedly took place across Whitehall despite coronavirus restrictions.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray is investigating reports of the parties.

 

‘This is MY May 2020, Boris’: Furious Brits share images of the loved ones they couldn’t see face-to-face – taken at same time PM held a cheese and wine ‘party’ in Downing Street

By Jamie Phillipsand Rachael Bunyanand Katie Westonand Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondentand Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline  

Angry Britons today raged at how they could only see loved ones through care home windows while Boris Johnson and his staff enjoyed cheese and wine in the Downing Street garden.  

The image sparked fresh anger among the public, who have now told of the sacrifices they were making to abide by lockdown restrictions on the same date. 

Stephen Laughton revealed he could not see his dying mother because it was ‘against the rules’. He said: ‘On the left is the last photo I have of my mum alive in May 2020. Living alone with serious illness, she faced the pandemic with stoicism.

‘We went for a walk around her local park. When she suggested sitting 2m apart in her garden, I said: better not, it’s against the rules.’

Dr Ajay Verma, a gastroenterologist, recalled holding a minute’s silence in a hospital ward in memory of those who had lost their lives in the pandemic.

He said: ‘On Friday 15th May 2020 at 1pm we held a minute’s silence on our ward (and throughout our hospital) in memory of those who died from Covid – little did we know that the PM & friends were enjoying a garden party that same afternoon.’

Today hundreds of people took to social media to rage about the latest apparent breach of Covid protocols by No10 staffers.  

A lung oncology cancer nurse specialist said: ‘This was me in May 2020 – exhausted, emotionally and physically spent. 

‘I don’t have words for how I feel looking at Boris and his cheese and wine party that was going on at the same time. Seriously what does it take to get the Tories out?!’

A mother also shared a picture of her son having to speak to his grandmother through a window because the restrictions just a day prior to the picture of the Downing Street garden.

She said: ‘May the 14th 2020. My Son seeing his nanny through a window, whilst before he saw her for cuddles every day. Broke my heart. Heart is angry now.’

Pictures also showed police driving through a Greenwich Park in south London using a megaphone to address small groups having picnics in the sun on May 9.

Officers were also photographed stopping two body boarders from entering the sea on the same day as Downing Street staff enjoyed cheese and wine.

Westminster tube station was also eerily empty on May 15 as the vast majority of commuters worked from home. 

On May 10, five days before the picture, the Prime Minister addressed the nation from Downing Street and praised those that had ‘shown the good sense to support those rules overwhelmingly’.

He also described the ‘tragic’ death toll and the ‘immense suffering’ the country was having to endure.

A day after the garden meeting, an anti-lockdown demonstration took place in London’s Hyde Park.

Piers Corbyn was among 19 people arrested at the protest as hundreds gathered holding placards and banners including slogans like ‘freedom over fear’.

Dozens of police officers, including some on horseback, were patrolling the protest and issued a further 10 individuals with fines for not complying with lockdown restrictions.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said the protestors were in clear breach of the guidance, putting themselves and others at risk of infection’.  

Those that were sticking to the Government imposed restrictions spoke of having to go more than a year without having human contact with their families.

Another Twitter user posted a picture of themselves in full personal protective equipment, recalling how they had to sleep in the garage to avoid putting their family at risk of contracting Covid.

They said: ‘This was me in May 2020, in the endless cycle of door-car-work-car-door, “don’t touch daddy ’till I changed and showered”.’

‘After possible contamination I slept in my garage to protect my family. Over a year later I would learn the Tories were laughing at us all…#cheeseandwine’

May 2020 was also the height of virtual quizzes, with friends and families forced to socialise over Zoom due to restrictions preventing the mixing of households. 

Labour Councillor for Bilborough in Nottingham, tweeted a picture of herself drinking with friends remotely after a ‘gruelling day’.

She said: ‘Picture May 2020. This is what socialising after a gruelling day looked like for those of us who followed the rules last May. 

‘We all had hard days in lockdown, none more so than the key workers we clapped for, but cheese and wine for 17 was NOT allowed.’

Laura Smith shared a picture of her son seeing his grandfather for the first time after ‘months of lockdown’, but added the pair sat two metres apart and did not embrace, believing they were ‘doing the right thing’.

Similarly, Kevin Pryce shared a picture visiting his father-in-law through a care home window, describing the luck his relative had in living in a ground floor room.

Another Twitter posted a picture of a closed off play area in her local estate, with children unable to use basic equipment like swings and slides during lockdown. 

Today, Dominic Raab said the photo did not show a social occasion but people ‘having a drink after a busy set of work meetings’ – adding that the fact attendees were ‘all in suits, or predominately in formal attire’ backed this up. 

In one interview, he incorrectly claimed that the PM had hosted a press conference that day, when in fact it was Health Secretary Matt Hancock. 

He told Times Radio: ‘Downing Street used that garden as a place of work. They used it for work meetings. The photo is from a day when, I think, the Prime Minister had just done a press conference. And sometimes they’ll have a drink after a long day or a long week. And that’s not against the regulations.’