142. WhatsApp messages exchanged between Mr Doyle and another Downing Street official in the media team on 30 November 2021 show the “line to take” being developed. Mr Doyle comments: “Key thing is there were never any Rules against workplace drinking so we can say with confidence no Rules were broken.”[1] It follows that the line to take simply reflected Mr Doyle’s personal belief about No. 10’s compliance with Covid Rules based on his own experience. Mr Doyle stated in evidence that “[c]onversations which took place between the Prime Minister and me, and assurances given, were firmly based on my experiences of the prevailing working environment which has been documented in my answers to the Cabinet Office investigation”.[2]
143. Mr Johnson notes in his written evidence that on the evening of 7 December 2021, i.e. one week after the Daily Mirror’s original enquiry and following ITV’s release of the mock press conference video, he received a WhatsApp from Jack Doyle advising him on what to say in PMQs the following day which stated: “I think you can say ‘I’ve been assured there was no party and no rules were broken’”. Mr Johnson also states that he had a conversation with James Slack where he asked Mr Slack to describe what happened at the event of 18 December 2020, during which Mr Slack “confirmed to me [i.e. Mr Johnson] that the Rules were followed”.[3]
144. We asked Mr Slack to confirm to us Mr Johnson’s claim to the Cabinet Office investigation that Mr Slack and Mr Johnson had spoken the week after the Daily Mirror’s enquiry, and that Mr Slack had told Mr Johnson that No. 10 had followed Covid Rules. Mr Slack confirmed that “[t]o the best of my recollection, the account given by Mr Johnson is correct.”[4] He added, “[t]o the best of my recollection, I had one discussion only with Mr Johnson relating to gatherings in No. 10, which is the telephone conversation referenced above. This discussion concerned the gathering on December 18, 2020, only, and in the terms described by Mr Johnson ie my belief that Covid Rules were followed at the event. I do not recall any discussion of any other events.”[5]
Limited scope of assurances from Jack Doyle and James Slack
145. The evidence we received suggests that the assurances Mr Doyle and Mr Slack provided to Mr Johnson related exclusively to the event on 18 December 2020. In relation to the assurances he had referred to in his opening statement at PMQs on 8 December 2021, Mr Johnson commented in his written evidence that, “[a]s the context of the statement makes clear, the statement related only to the 18 December 2020 event”.[6] As we note above at paragraphs 120 and 123, Mr Johnson subsequently cited these assurances on two further occasions in response to questioning by the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Johnson states in his final evidence submission of 22 May 2023 that “the statements made to Parliament on 8 December 2021 were clearly and expressly limited to assurances that I had received in relation to [the 18 December 2020] event”.[7]
- ↑ Core evidence bundle materials, p76
- ↑ Core evidence bundle materials, p73. For the answers referred to, see pp 70–71
- ↑ Rt Hon Boris Johnson (BJS0002), para 86
- ↑ Core evidence bundle materials, p75
- ↑ Core evidence bundle materials, p75
- ↑ Rt Hon Boris Johnson (BJS0002), paras 90, 91(3)
- ↑ Rt Hon Boris Johnson (BJS0004), para 21
