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 have been revealed to be 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. 

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.

Boris Johnson and staff pictured with wine in Downing Street garden in May 2020, during the first national lockdown

Boris Johnson and staff pictured with wine in Downing Street garden in May 2020, during the first national lockdown

The hunt is on for the so-called 'snappy rat'. 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'

The hunt is on for the so-called ‘snappy rat’. 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’

Who was in the No10 garden?

BORIS JOHNSON, Prime Minister

CARRIE JOHNSON, PM’s wife

Carrie was Mr Johnson’s fiancee at the time of the photo, and she was pictured holding their baby Wilf. 

MATT HANCOCK, Health Secretary

Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock

Mr Hancock was Health Secretary at the time of the photo and had earlier that day 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.’

DOMINIC CUMMINGS, PM’s Chief Advisor

Dominic Cummings

Dominic Cummings

Spent a controversial 16 months in Downing Street before quitting last December after losing a power struggle with Carrie Johnson. 

MARTIN REYNOLDS, PM’s Principal Private Secretary

Martin Reynolds

Martin Reynolds

Mr Reynolds has worked in government for over a decade, with him serving as the PM’s PPS since October 2019 after four years in the same role at the Foreign Office. 

JAMES SLACK, PM’s Official spokesperson

James Slack

James Slack

Mr Slack served as the PM’s Director of Communications from the beginning of this year after nearly four years as Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson. Office.

JESS SELDON: PM’s Chief Press Officer on Foreign Affairs

IMRAN SHAFI, PM’s Private Secretary   

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.

 

One Twitter user shared how she was banned from sitting with her mother in her garden shortly before she died in May 2020

One Twitter user shared how she was banned from sitting with her mother in her garden shortly before she died in May 2020

In reaction to the photo leak another person shared a photo of her son seeing his grandmother through a window last May

In reaction to the photo leak another person shared a photo of her son seeing his grandmother through a window last May

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