Minister refuses to ‘defend’ Boris’s June 2020 birthday ‘party’ in No10

Boris Johnson faces another wave of Partygate pressure today as ministers gave him lukewarm backing over a birthday bash in Downing Street in June 2020.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitted he was ‘upset’ by the latest allegations that up to 30 people gathered in the Cabinet Room, presented Mr Johnson with a cake and sang to him.

Sent out to field questions this morning, Mr Shapps was pushed on why interior designer Lulu Lytle, who had been refurbishing Mr Johnson’s flat, had come down three flights of stairs and was present at the alleged party. 

‘You are asking me questions I can’t provide the answer to because I wasn’t there,’ Mr Shapps said. 

Mr Shapps told Sky News: ‘It was his (Boris Johnson’s) birthday and these are people that he worked with all the time.

‘As I said, I don’t seek to defend it. This is for Sue Gray to decide on whether this was appropriate, she’ll make the recommendations.

The minister seemed to lay the blame squarely on Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie, who is believed to have organised the gathering in the Cabinet Room on June 19, 2020. 

‘Look, as the Prime Minister’s said, where mistakes were made, even though it wasn’t… I mean, he would have turned up and the cake would have been there,’ he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

‘He didn’t know about it, and it clearly shouldn’t happen.

‘But Sue Gray will get to the bottom of that; the Prime Minister’s already said there will be consequences falling out from the Sue Gray report, and my hope is we can get to see that very quickly.’

He added: ‘We know that this was a surprise, the Prime Minister obviously wasn’t involved in that surprise, but we need to have a full understanding of all of that.’  

Tory MPs are predicting more damaging revelations after it emerged that the PM’s 56th birthday celebration included a Union Jack cake, Marks and Spencer’s nibbles and singing.

The event, first revealed by ITV, was apparently already on the radar of Sue Gray, the civil servant who is carrying out an investigation into Whitehall lockdown breaches.

Earlier that day he had posed with his arms outstretched with children at a school in Hertfordshire to show the importance of social distancing. 

 

But while some ministers and Tory MPs tried to shrug the birthday bash off – pointing out that the growing chaos in Ukraine could quickly overshadow the controversy – others warned that it could herald a new more dangerous phase for Mr Johnson.

One senior MP told MailOnline that the premier was facing huge damage that would not end.

‘It just keeps piling on,’ they said. 

Another MP told The Guardian: ‘Presumably there is more being stored up for release after the Gray report just in case that hadn’t dealt the killer blow.’

A Tory who so far has not submitted a no confidence letter added that the gathering on June 19 was ‘clearly social’ and ‘changes things – a lot’.

A frontbencher also referred to the mounting possibility of the PM losing a no confidence vote, saying if a third of the payroll voted against the PM then he needs ‘at least half of all backbenchers to back him’, adding: ‘That seems pretty unlikely. You can see things get dangerous quickly.’ 

As allies desperately mobilise an ‘Avengers’ operation to save the PM, 70 Tories including five Cabinet ministers held an online meeting to discuss his situation yesterday.

Housing minister Chris Pincher, a former whip, is said to have warned the group that an election could follow within months if Mr Johnson is ousted. 

Human rights barrister Adam Wagner said Downing Street’s statement that the PM was only there 10 minutes ‘appears a clear admission of an illegal gathering’ and could ‘tie the Met’s hands’ about launching a probe.

He noted that it is the first time No10 ‘has admitted that the PM was at an, to me, obviously illegal gathering with no real prospect of a reasonable excuse’.

A spokesperson for Lytle said: ‘Lulu was not invited to any birthday celebrations for the prime minister as a guest. Lulu entered the cabinet room briefly as requested, while waiting to speak with the prime minister.’

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is thought to have attended for a short period of time, but sources insisted that he ‘had not been invited’.

ITV News said that picnic food from M&S was eaten during the afternoon gathering, lasting for up to 30 minutes. Martin Reynolds, Mr Johnson’s under-fire principal private secretary, was also said to have attended.

Other guests are reported to have included Jack Doyle, the director of communications, and Shelley Williams-Walker, his head of operations.  

A spokesman told ITV that the afternoon event was a surprise and he stayed for only 10 minutes. The broadcaster also claimed that there was a separate event later on in the PM’s flat.

But No 10 denied claims that the bash had been followed by a second party. Instead, Mr Johnson hosted a small number of people outside. A source told the BBC this involved a meal cooked on a disposable barbecue in the No 10 garden with members of Mr Johnson’s family, including his sister Rachel.

The bombshell comes as Mr Johnson awaits the results of the investigation by Cabinet Office mandarin Sue Gray that could make or break his premiership. 

It is understood she was already aware of the birthday party allegations and therefore their emergence will not further delay the publication of her investigation, which is still expected this week.  

Labour leader Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson should resign ‘for the good of the country’, adding: ‘This is yet more evidence that we have got a Prime Minister who believes that the rules that he made don’t apply to him. 

‘And so we have got a Prime Minister and a government who spend their whole time mopping up sleaze and deceit. Meanwhile millions of people are struggling to pay their bills. We cannot afford to go on with this chaotic, rudderless government.’ 

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood also condemned the ‘latest twist in which has been quite a horrible series of events’, telling Nigel Farage’s show on GB News: ‘Very sad to read these latest headlines. The nation is rightly very angry by what’s happened. We’re almost in a holding pattern as we wait for Sue Gray’s report. 

‘I’m curious as to whether this was allowed to leak out in the build up to that report or whether she’s going to have to require an extension indeed to include the study of this latest event. This is all a massive distraction from where we should be focusing. 

‘There are both domestic issues, huge challenges nationally, but also internationally that require attention. So it’s very sad to see this latest twist in which has been quite horrible series of events rolling out for the last three or four months.’

Months before the party, Mr Johnson had praised a schoolgirl who cancelled her birthday celebration because of the lockdown. 

He tweeted: ‘Josephine sets a great example to us all by postponing her birthday party until we have sent coronavirus packing.’ 

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries attempted to defend the PM tonight, tweeting: ‘So, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for 10 minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party?’

And Environment Secretary George Eustice described the latest allegations as not ‘serious’, saying ‘at the end of the day a small group of staff brought in a birthday cake’.

He told Sky News: ‘My understanding is the prime minister had a small number of family, close family members, with him outdoors in the garden to celebrate his birthday.’

Mr Eustice continued: ‘I do think that in this saga there have been some quite serious allegations made – those have been investigated.

‘I don’t think that these latest allegations that have been made fit into that category. I think they have gone slightly over the top.’

A No 10 spokeswoman said: ‘A group of staff working in No 10 that day gathered briefly in the Cabinet Room after a meeting to wish the Prime Minister a happy birthday. He was there for less than 10 minutes.’

Regarding allegations of a later event in the No11 flat she added: ‘This is totally untrue. In line with the rules at the time the Prime Minister hosted a small number of family members outside that evening.’

A spokesman for Lulu Lytle confirmed she was in Downing Street, saying: ‘Lulu was present in Downing Street on 19 June working on the refurbishment. 

‘Lulu was not invited to any birthday celebrations for the prime minister as a guest. Lulu entered the Cabinet Room briefly as requested, while waiting to speak with the Prime Minister.’ 

Baroness Warsi told Channel 4 News: ‘During lockdown when so many of us could not go on to do the things that we wanted to do with our families, including birthdays – I had a 50th in the middle of Covid and we had a Zoom Party, my husband had his 50th and we spoke to our children over the telephone… those of us in public life were making decision that erred on the side of caution because we were people who were involved in making sure that legislation for Covid went through both houses. 

‘Therefore it was right that we interpreted that in the strictest way possible because we needed to be seen to be following the rules that we were making.

‘Anybody who was at a party where rules were broken, whether that’s a Prime Minister, ministers, special advisers, or civil servants, [they] should resign. If you are in a place which makes the rules and you are seen not to be following those rules then you should fall on your sword, you should say ‘I got this wrong’ and therefore, the way to deal with it is through a resignation. 

‘And therefore, that’s not just talking about the Prime Minister, that’s talking about anybody who was present when those rules were broken.’

The latest claims of alleged rule-breaking at Downing Street was described as ‘completely sickening’ by a group representing those bereaved in the pandemic.

Jo Goodman, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said ‘Like thousands of others, I remember June 19th vividly.

‘It was the day before what would have been my dad’s 73rd birthday, shortly after he had passed away from Covid-19. It was a horrible time for my family, but we stuck to the rules, not even being able to hug to comfort each other.

‘It’s completely sickening that the Prime Minister spent the evening sharing cake with 30 friends indoors and though we’re not even surprised any more, it still brings fresh pain. Whilst dozens sang happy birthday to him, families couldn’t even sing in memory at their loved ones funerals.

‘Regardless of any report, the Prime Minister clearly needs to resign. He’s lost all credibility.

‘Every day and every fresh scandal pours salt on the wounds of the hundreds of thousands who have lost loved ones. If he had any decency he would do what we and the country is calling for him to do and go.’

Labour (Co-op) MP for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport Luke Pollard tweeted two pictures of his ‘lockdown birthday’ in 2020, questioning the Prime Minister.

One picture shows a card which read ‘April 2020 – Definitely the most s**t birthday you have ever had’.

‘For my lockdown birthday in 2020 I had a wonderful day with my lovely boyfriend at home,’ he tweeted.

‘No parties. No rules broken. If I could do it, why couldn’t the Prime Minister?’

Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson recalled his late mother’s final birthday, celebrated over FaceTime, after an allegation of a birthday party in Downing Street for Boris Johnson.

The MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, tweeted: ‘In June of 2020 my mum died shortly after her birthday which we ‘celebrated’ over FaceTime.

‘I hadn’t been able to see her for many weeks. She was very lonely. But we agreed we should follow the rules.

‘I can’t express how much I despise this cruel charlatan and his acolytes.’ 

Mr Johnson is facing another week from hell as the top civil servant finalises her inquiry into alleged lockdown breaches in Whitehall, while furious Tories prepare for another coup bid. 

Dominic Cummings today revealed he is only giving written evidence to the Partygate inquiry to avoid Mr Johnson ‘inventing nonsense’ about what he said. 

The former No10 chief said he is not speaking to Sue Gray directly as he claimed staff are not handing crucial material to the top civil servant due to fears Boris Johnson will see it. 

The comments came amid rumours Downing Street police have supplied ‘extremely damning’ testimony to Ms Gray, with storm clouds seemingly gathering around Mr Johnson.

But the PM’s spokesman pointedly refused to say that Ms Gray’s whole report will be published – saying it will be down to the premier how much is released.  

Mr Cummings has already revealed he is ready to swear on oath that Mr Johnson was warned that a ‘BYOB’ bash in May 2020 would break the rules.

In a blog post this afternoon, the ex-aide wrote: ‘When SG asked to speak to me I emailed to the effect: if we speak the PM will invent nonsense and spin it to the media and you and I will both have problems, let’s keep everything in writing, therefore he cannot invent things I’ve supposedly said to you, there is only a written record, this makes both our lives easier. 

‘She agreed. So I have answered questions in writing and will answer further questions in writing if she wants. But I will not speak and therefore provide the PM with more chances to lie and confuse everybody.

‘I know others are very worried about handing things to the Cabinet Office because they know the PM will see everything SG collects. This inevitably means that evidence, including photos, is not given to her and instead will keep leaking after her report.’

He stressed that his caution was a ‘consequence of beliefs about the PM’s integrity, not SG’s’. 

Officers from the Scotland Yard’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command who were guardian No10 are said to have been ‘only too willing’ to provide accounts to the investigation.    

However, the premier has signalled defiance, and has reportedly reunited a team of allies who helped secure him the leadership to shore up support among MPs. Wags have nicknamed the group – including ministers Conor Burns, Nigel Adams, and Chris Pincher the ‘Avengers’.

He is expected to push Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to let him respond to Ms Gray’s findings within hours of them being released, so he can take charge of the ‘narrative’.   

Mr Johnson suffered another body blow as a Treasury minister dramatically quit, branding the government’s Covid anti-fraud measures ‘indolent, arrogant and ignorant’.

Lord Agnew announced he was resigning at the despatch box in the Upper House – drawing gasps from peers as he took aim at ‘schoolboy errors’ in tackling abuse of support schemes.

The bombshell came as he was updating peers about the £4.3billion of Covid loans written off by the Treasury – which Labour said has gone to ‘fraudsters’.  

Lord Agnew said he had been ‘arguing’ with Treasury and BEIS officials for nearly two years to ‘get them to lift their game’ over issues such as duplicate loans and monitoring the performance of lenders, adding: ‘I have been mostly unsuccessful.’

‘Given that I am the minister for counter fraud, it would be somewhat dishonest to stay on in that role if I am incapable of doing it properly,’ he said.

‘It is for this reason that I have sadly decided to tender my resignation as a minister across the Treasury and Cabinet Office with immediate affect.’

After finishing his speech raging at a ‘combination of arrogance, indolence, and ignorance’ that is costing the equivalent of a penny on income tax, the Treasury minister said ‘thank you and goodbye’ and strode out of the Lords chamber to applause from his fellow peers. 

Although Lord Agnew insisted there was no connection to Mr Johnson’s other woes, the move will intensify pressure on the already-embattled premier.

Lord Agnew told the House: ‘The oversight by both BEIS and the British Business Bank of the panel lenders of BBLs has been nothing less than woeful.

‘They have been assisted by the Treasury, who appear to have no knowledge or little interest in the consequences of fraud to our economy or our society.’

He told the Lords that BEIS had ‘two counter-fraud staff’ at the start of the pandemic who would not ‘engage constructively’ with his counter-fraud team in the Cabinet Office.

He added: ‘Schoolboy errors were made, for example allowing over a thousand companies to receive bounceback loans that were not even trading when Covid struck.’

Lord Agnew tried to distance himself from the growing calls to oust the PM.

‘It is worth saying that none of this related to far more dramatic political events being played out across Westminster. This is not an attack on the Prime Minister and I am sorry for the inconvenience it will cause,’ he said.

‘I hope that as a virtually unknown minister beyond this place, it might prompt others more important beyond me to get behind this and sort it out.

‘It matters for all the obvious reasons but there is a penny of income tax waiting to be claimed here if we just woke up. 

‘Total fraud loss across Government is estimated at £29billion a year, of course not all can be stopped but a combination of arrogance indolence and ignorance freezes the Government machine.’ 

Lord Agnew told peers that early estimates of fraudulent Covid loan claims was likely to be 26 per cent of the total paid out so far.

He said: ‘We have already paid out nearly £1 billion to banks claiming the state guarantee. The percentage of these losses estimated to be from fraud rather than credit failures is 26%. I accept this is only an early approximate but a very worrying one.’

As he resigned, Lord Agnew said he had ‘four differences of opinion with Treasury officials’ and proceeded to read out what he would do differently.

These were: ‘1. An urgent improvement in lender performance data, including a common definition of fraud.

‘2. Far greater challenge of lender banks when we uncover inconsistency.

‘3. Educating Treasury officials on why reliance on audit is far too reactive.

‘4. A failure by Treasury or BEIS to understand the disjunction between the level of criminality – probably hundreds of thousands – and enforcement capability.

Lord Agnew’s resignation as a Treasury minister came after a question from his Labour shadow, Lord Tunnicliffe.

Lord Tunnicliffe asked: ‘Last week the Government objected to the £4.3billion figure quoted in various news reports.

‘In many senses we would be delighted if the extent of fraud arising from the Government’s coronavirus support scheme was smaller than first thought. Is the noble lord the minister able to provide a more accurate figure today?’

He also asked ‘why the Government expects working people to cancel out these losses’, adding: ‘That would be bad enough in normal times but is surely worse when families face an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis.’

After the resignation Labour leader in the Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon said: ‘I think we have just witnessed one of the most dramatic moments we have ever seen in the House from a minister who felt his integrity could no longer ensure he remained a member of the Government.’

No10 insisted the Government had been clear fraud was ‘unacceptable’.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘We are grateful to Lord Agnew for the significant contribution he has made to Government.

‘On the wider issues that he’s raised, we introduced our unprecedented Covid support schemes at speed to protect jobs and livelihoods, helping millions of people across the UK, including nearly 12million on the furlough scheme alone.

‘We’ve always been clear fraud is unacceptable and are taking action against those abusing the system, with 150,000 ineligible claims blocked, £500 million recovered last year and the HMRC tax protection taskforce is expected to recover an additional £1 billion of taxpayers’ money.’

It is not the first time a minister has resigned at the despatch box in the House of Lords.

Back in 2018, Lord Bates stunned peers when he announced he would quit as he was ‘ashamed’ for failing to turn up on time in the upper chamber.

However, the international development minister’s offer of resignation was rejected by the then prime minister Theresa May.

He subsequently left the Government the following year to walk from Belfast to Brussels in search of ‘common ground’, amid the fractious Brexit debate. 

Boris Johnson insists he is taking ex-minister Nusrat Ghani’s claim she was sacked in reshuffle over ‘Muslimness’ ‘extremely seriously’ as he launches a civil service probe following calls from Cabinet members for a ‘proper investigation’ 

Boris Johnson today insisted he is taking allegations an ex-minister was sacked over ‘Muslimness’ ‘extremely seriously’ as he ordered a formal Cabinet Office investigation into the claims. 

The Prime Minister has instructed the civil service to carry out a probe after the extraordinary claims from Tory MP Nusrat Ghani. 

The move came after Cabinet ministers Nadhim Zahawi and Sajid Javid joined calls for a ‘proper’ inquiry – with others suggesting it should be fully independent. 

Mr Johnson told reporters on a visit to Milton Keynes University Hospital this morning: ‘We take these allegations extremely seriously. I took them very seriously when they were raised with me 18 months ago.

‘Very glad there’s an investigation taking place now, can’t say more really about it.’ 

Downing Street announced the probe this morning, with a Number 10 spokeswoman saying: ‘The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani MP. 

‘At the time these allegations were first made, the Prime Minister recommended to her that she make a formal complain to CCHQ. She did not take up this offer.

‘The Prime Minister has now asked officials to establish the facts about what happened.

‘As he said at the time, the Prime Minister takes these claims very seriously.’

Ms Ghani alleged that chief whip Mark Spencer said her faith was partly responsible for her getting the boot in 2020 – something he flatly denies. 

Mr Johnson was asked this morning if Mr Spencer will remain in his role while the investigation is carried out and he replied: ‘Just to get back to the key point, this is something I take personally extremely seriously. I took it very seriously 18 months ago. We must wait and see what the investigation produces.’

Ms Ghani has contradicted No10’s version of events, saying the PM refused to get involved and tried to fob her off.

After the announcement, Ms Ghani insisted the terms of reference for the probe must including ‘all that was said in Downing Street and by the Whip’.

Ms Ghani said: ‘As I said to the Prime Minister last night all I want is for this to be taken seriously and for him to investigate.

‘I welcome his decision to do that now.

‘The terms of reference of the inquiry must include all that was said in Downing Street and by the Whip.

‘I look forward to seeing the terms of reference.’ 

In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Zahawi welcomed the news, but stressed he did not think the allegations had been taken lightly before.

He said he personally had never ‘experienced any form of racism’ in the Conservative Party.

The Education Secretary told Sky News: ‘She has made a very serious allegation, the Prime Minister spoke to her last night and said the Cabinet Office will investigate this and look at the detail of this.

‘She put out a statement last night saying actually, to be fair to her, this could be people who weren’t even members of the Conservative Party, which is why we need to get to the bottom of this very quickly.

‘And of course the Chief Whip (Mark Spencer) has come out and named himself as the individual and I work with both colleagues, and I think it is important that someone like a Cabinet Office senior civil servant should look at this properly, because the Chief Whip has also categorically denied this.’

A thinktank has called on the Government to bring in the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate the claims.

The Runnymede Trust, a race equality thinktank, says the issue is too important to be left to a civil servant-led inquiry.   

Chief executive Dr Halima Begum told the Guardian: ‘This is an incredibly serious situation. At a bare minimum, the allegation that a minister of the crown was fired for her so-called ‘Muslimness’ would represent a flagrant challenge to our equalities and labour laws.

‘The facts and questions about the legality of what has happened here must be urgently investigated by the very highest authority. This cannot simply be left for another civil service inquiry. If the allegations are proven to be true, Nusrat would have been subjected to grossly discriminatory behaviour.

‘[Her] distress will be felt by every one of the 3 million Muslims in the country, as well as every member of our religious minority communities. All of the political parties need to do more to demonstrate zero tolerance for discrimination, and to prove that religious minorities in this country are respected regardless of their faith.’

Caroline Nokes, chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, described the treatment of Ms Ghani as ‘appalling’.

She also backed calls for the EHRC to launch an investigation and told the Telegraph: ‘Her faith has never made me (or any other colleague) ‘uncomfortable’.

‘At the very least EHRC should have a look at this.’

An EHRC spokesman stated the Commission is still examining the Conservative Party’s handling of the Singh inquiry into Islamophobia complaints last year and suggested a full investigation may take place.

The spokesman added: ‘If we are not satisfied with progress we will review our decision [not to begin an immediate review] and do not rule out the use of our legal powers.’

Elsewhere, a Tory MP sparked anger after he said Ms Ghani was ‘hardly someone who is obviously a Muslim’. 

Michael Fabricant said the timing of the former transport minister‘s claim was ‘very suspicious’, and suggested it was linked to moves to get rid of Boris Johnson over the Downing Street lockdown parties scandal. 

Yesterday, Labour described Mr Fabricant’s comments as ‘shameful’ and called for the Conservative whip to be withdrawn.

Speaking on LBC, Mr Fabricant said: ‘The timing is interesting. I think all this is because it’s open season on Boris Johnson, putting pressure on him from the party trying to get him to resign.

‘I think the whole thing actually stinks, the accusation being made by Nus Ghani.

‘She’s hardly someone who is obviously a Muslim. I had no idea what religion she is. It does seem rather a lame excuse to me that she was sacked because of that.’

In response, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy tweeted: ‘What an appalling, disgraceful thing to say.

‘If the Tories wanted to show they were serious about tackling Islamophobia, they could start by removing the whip from Michael Fabricant.’

Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said the response of the the Tories to Ms Ghani’s claims had been shameful.

‘For a Conservative MP, Michael Fabricant, to go on the radio and make comments that reflect exactly the sort of unacceptable behaviour Nusrat has raised shows just how deep the problem in the Conservative Party goes,’ she said.

Ms Ghani has received the backing of Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Education Nadhim Zahawi, the two most senior Muslims in the Cabinet.

Both took to Twitter to support her and demand a full investigation into her claims against Mr Spencer.                

He has outed himself as the whip concerned, and branded Ms Ghani’s comments ‘false’ and ‘defamatory’. 

Justice secretary Dominic Raab also lined up to defend the party, claiming she had decided not to call for an investigation at the time.

But Mr Javid said Ms Ghani was ‘a credit to the Conservative Party’, adding: ‘This is a very serious matter which needs a proper investigation. I would strongly support her in making a formal complaint – she must be heard.’

His intervention claim after Mr Zahawi tweeted: ‘There is no place for islamophobia or any form of racism in our Conservative party. Nusrat Ghani is a friend, a colleague & a brilliant parliamentarian. This has to be investigated properly & racism routed out. #standwithNus’ . 

Ms Ghani, who was the first Muslim woman to be elected as a Tory MP in 2015, told the Sunday Times she was told by a party whip she was being axed in February 2020 because her status as a Muslim woman and a minister was ‘making colleagues feel uncomfortable’.

She also claimed she was warned that if she continued to raise the issue then her ‘career and reputation would be destroyed’.   

But yesterday morning Downing Street revealed that Ms Ghani had complained directly to the PM in 2020. A spokeswoman said: ‘After being made aware of these extremely serious claims, the Prime Minister met with Nusrat Ghani to discuss them. 

‘He then wrote to her expressing his serious concern and inviting her to begin a formal complaint process. She did not subsequently do so.’

After that statement was released, Ms Ghani said: ‘When I told the Prime Minister in June 2020 what had been said to me in the Government Whips’ Office I urged him to take it seriously as a Government matter and instigate an inquiry.

‘He wrote to me that he could not get involved and suggested I use the internal Conservative Party complaint process.

‘This, as I had already pointed out, was very clearly not appropriate for something that happened on Government business – I do not even know if the words that were conveyed to me about what was said in reshuffle meetings at Downing Street were by members of the Conservative Party.’