A NEW picture shows Boris Johnson with what appears to be a bottle of champagne and half-eaten packet of crisps at a Downing Street Christmas quiz in 2020.
The photograph, published by The Mirror, shows the Prime Minister next to three staff members on December 15 – with one wearing tinsel, and another sporting a Santa hat.
Johnson was previously accused of breaking Covid rules by hosting the event, which was first reported in December.
On the date of the quiz the city of London was under Tier 2 Covid rules, which banned social mixing between two or more people from separate households.
READ MORE: The 12 lockdown parties at Number 10 and Whitehall police are investigating
Johnson has insisted he broke no rules, and the quiz event is not one of those being investigated by police – despite another Christmas quiz held just a few days earlier in the Cabinet Office being probed.
According to barrister Adam Wagner, the new photograph “suggests a Christmas party”.
“This was held at a time when indoor social gatherings of two or more people were banned and the Government had told people they ‘must’ not have a Christmas party,” he said.
"In light of the new evidence it now makes no sense for this gathering not to be investigated by the police given that an almost identical gathering in the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case's office two days later is being investigated."
But at PMQs, Johnson said it was “completely in error” to describe an image of him as being at a party.
Labour’s Fabian Hamilton said: “In the last few minutes a photo has emerged of the Prime Minister in Downing Street on December 15, 2020 surrounded by alcohol, food and people wearing tinsel.
“It looks a lot like one of the Christmas parties he told us never happened.”
He added: “Will the Prime Minister be referring this party to the police as it is not one of the ones currently being investigated?”
Johnson said: “In what he has just said, I’m afraid he is completely in error.”
Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s hostile former chief adviser, tweeted: “There’s waaaaay better pics than that floating around, incl in the flat.”
The Prime Minister’s press secretary insisted the event was a “virtual quiz” but was unable to say whether the photograph had been submitted to the Gray inquiry in evidence.
“I’m not going to get into precise evidence but she obviously had access to all the evidence she needed,” the press secretary said.
The SNP's Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said the Prime Minister was "staggering from one scandal to the next".
He went on: "This latest boozy lockdown party picture in Downing Street is damning and it is crucial that the Metropolitan police look to investigate it.
"Alcohol, tinsel and a party hat - if this is a work meeting then it is little wonder the Prime Minister and his broken government have failed to tackle the cost-of-living crisis hammering households.
"Boris Johnson is too engulfed in scandal to get on with the day job and his position is completely untenable. It is a fact that Boris Johnson broke the rules, lied about it and misled Parliament."
Scotland Yard has said it is reviewing its assessment that the No 10 Christmas quiz did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation after the picture emerged.
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