Boris Johnson should ‘come clean’ on No 10 drinks, says Sammy Wilson

 Prime Minister Boris Johnson should “come clean” about a lockdown party, East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson has said.

About 100 people were invited to a “bring-your-own-booze” event in Downing Street’s garden in the first lockdown in May 2020, the BBC understands.

Mr Johnson has so far declined to say whether he attended, but witnesses have told the BBC both he and his wife, Carrie Johnson, attended the event.

Mr Wilson said the prime minister needs to “get this story killed”.

Boris Johnson is due to appear in front of MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions later on Wednesday.

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On Monday, ITV published a leaked email from Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds, inviting staff to “socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden” on 20 May 2020 – when lockdown rules in England banned large outdoor gatherings.

The invitation encouraged people to “bring your own booze” and “make the most of the lovely weather”.

Mr Johnson has said it is a matter for Sue Gray – the senior civil servant investigating a series of reported parties in Downing Street and in Whitehall in 2020 – to determine what happened.

Ms Gray is a former permanent secretary at Stormont’s Department of Finance.

The prime minister’s official spokesman has also refused to confirm whether Mr Johnson attended the May 2020 Downing Street gathering.

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The PM is set to face questions from MPs

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster Programme on Wednesday, Mr Wilson said if the prime minister does not answer questions over his attendance it will be “disastrous for himself and for public confidence”.

“As one senior MP said to me yesterday, look the prime minister, as it’s not the first allegations of parties, he must know the full extent of what happened in Downing Street over the lockdown period,” he said.

“Rather than to allow this drip-feed of information to come out that something happened on the 20th May and another one happened some other time – he should come clean.

“He must make it quite clear these things happen, they shouldn’t have happened, what was his involvement in it was and to get this story killed so you don’t have every week some new revelation.

“People will then make a judgement on the basis of that situation and his honesty about this what his future should be.”

• What rules would the Downing Street party have broken?

On Tuesday, Mr Wilson’s party colleague Jim Shannon broke down in tears in Parliament while questioning the government about fresh revelations that it broke lockdown rules.

Mr Shannon, MP for Strangford, cried as he said his mother-in-law had died alone with Covid during the pandemic.

Jim Shannon MP cried while questioning the government over claims it broke lockdown rules

Mr Wilson believes if Mr Johnson does not answer whether or not he attended the gathering at Prime Minister’s Questions then “he will be in even greater trouble”.

“It will be for his own party and for himself whether his credibility is so shot that he cannot carry the job which he is meant to do,” Mr Wilson said.

The DUP MP said that the issue of alleged Downing Street parties “is distracting from all the good work the government is doing and are not getting credit for”.

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Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie has called on the PM to resign

The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Doug Beattie, has called on Mr Johnson to resign.

“Whether the prime minister comes clean or doesn’t, his credibility is destroyed,” Doug Beattie told the BBC’s Nolan Show.

“If it’s proven that he attended in that investigation or he comes clean to say he did [attend] then there is no way out and he has to resign.

“We have to think of the thousands of families who listened to him, listened to his administration, people who adhered to the rules and all the time he was ignoring that himself.

“There is no way back from this, he needs to step down and he has to do this quickly to keep continuity in government and start dealing with the issues we still face today.”

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Sue Gray is the former permanent secretary at Stormont’s Department of Finance

In December, the prime minister asked for an independent inquiry to investigate a series of allegations about events taking place in government buildings in 2020 despite Covid-19 restrictions being in force.

Ms Gray’s probe is investigating specific events including a leaving drinks for a No 10 aide on 27 November, a Department of Education gathering on 10 December and a Christmas quiz for No 10 staff on 15 December.

It is also examining the Downing Street Christmas party on 18 December, and on Tuesday, Ellis said drinks events held in the Downing Street garden on 20 and 15 May 2020 would also be added to the inquiry.

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European Parliament president Sassoli dies at 65

 European Parliament President David Sassoli has died at the age of 65, his spokesman says.

The Italian former journalist and centre-left politician had been seriously ill for more than two weeks and cancelled all official activities.

Mr. Sassoli was admitted to hospital in Italy last month due to a serious complication with his immune system.

He died in the early hours of Tuesday in a hospital in Aviano, his spokesman, Roberto Cuillo, announced on Twitter.

In September, Mr. Sassoli was taken to hospital in Strasbourg where he was treated for a severe case of pneumonia caused by legionella. He later told his followers on social media that he had suffered a relapse while recuperating in Italy.

He worked remotely during October, officially resuming his political duties in November. But he was again hospitalised on 26 December, Italian media report.

“Pneumonia is an ugly beast the important thing is to avoid relapses and the convalescence must be adequate,” he told Italan outlet Corriere in September.

A vote to elect his replacement had already been planned for later this month, and Mr Sassoli had indicated that he would not seek re-election. Mr. Sassoli announced in November that he had been away from work due to a case of ‘bad pneumonia’

The former television newsreader became president of the 705-seat European Parliament in July 2019. He was the second Italian president since the assembly was elected by universal suffrage.

The role is considered one of the bloc’s top jobs, and involves chairing sessions and overseeing the parliament’s activities.

He beat three other candidates to the role, and in a speech following his victory he called for the EU to return to the spirit of its founding fathers who swapped warfare and nationalism for peace and equality.

Mr Sassoli left a three-decade career in journalism and became a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2009.

He was a member of the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the second-biggest grouping in the parliament.

A number of people have paid tribute to Mr Sassoli.

European Council President Charles Michel described Mr Sassoli as a “sincere and passionate European”.

“We already miss his human warmth, his generosity, his friendliness and his smile,” he said.

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Top judge hits out at proposal for new legal watchdog

 Scotland’s top judge and lawyers have issued a furious response to Scottish government proposals to reform how legal services are regulated.

Ministers are consulting on changes which could see a new regulatory body set up to oversee the legal sector.

Lord Carloway said the judiciary would “resist with all its strength” any attempt to interfere with its independence and the rule of law.

And lawyers said the plans were an “act of vandalism” and a “retrograde step”.

The government said it would “carefully consider” views before coming to any decision or drafting legislation.

Its consultation paper said it had not yet taken a position on potential models of regulation, which were drawn up as part of an independent review.

‘No longer fit for purpose’

Esther Robertson – a health chief who has formerly led NHS 24 and NHS Fife – was asked to chair a study of the regulation of legal services in 2017, in response to concerns that the existing system was “dated and no longer fit for purpose”.

Her report said the current system was too complicated, particularly in terms of how complaints were handled, and made 40 recommendations about how legal services should be regulated.

It also proposed three different models for a new oversight system, ranging from small “light touch” changes to a complete overhaul of the system with “a single independent regulator for all providers of legal services” at the top, reporting to MSPs.

The government admitted that the latter proposal had “largely polarised the views of those in the legal and consumer landscape” and launched a consultation to “build consensus where possible on the way forward”.

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Lord Carloway heads the judiciary as the lord president of the Court of Session

However, Lord Carloway – who heads the judiciary as the lord president of the Court of Session – said the consultation “appears to have proceeded on the fundamentally flawed premise that the legal profession in Scotland regulates itself”.

He stressed that this was “incorrect”, saying the lord president regulates the system while being independent from government, parliament and those he regulates, while having ultimate control over some “limited self-regulation by the professional bodies”.

His response to the consultation said that transferring regulatory powers to a separate body answerable to Holyrood would “create an unwarranted and unacceptable interference by the government and parliament with the judiciary”.

He said this would amount to “an interference with the rule of law”, adding: “The judiciary will resist with all its strength this, and any other attempt by government or parliament to remove the court’s regulatory powers”.

Lord Carloway’s response was echoed by leading lawyers, including QC Roddy Dunlop, dean of the Faculty of Advocates, who described the plans as “an assault on the rule of law that must be resisted, root and branch, with tooth and claw”.

The Faculty’s own response to the consultation called the plans “an act of vandalism”, adding that an independent judiciary was “fundamental to the operation of democracy in Scotland” and “cannot be sacrificed on the altar of perceived modernisation”.

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Meanwhile prominent defence lawyer Aamer Anwar said Lord Carloway’s response was “a devastating indictment” of the proposals.

He said: “The government cannot keep producing box-ticking consultations without rhyme or reason, or any real fundamental understanding of a system they propose to scrap.”

In its original response to the Robertson review, the government said it believed reform was required – but accepted there was “little consensus” on this or what should be done.

The consultation paper stressed that ministers were yet to “develop a position” on Ms Robertson’s key recommendation that an independent regulator be established.

Community safety minister Ash Denham said the government was “open to further views on how the report’s recommendations should be taken forward”, and wanted to “capture the fullest range of views” on what level of reform was supported.

Following Lord Carloway’s submission, a spokesperson said: “We thank the judiciary for their response to the consultation, which has generated a wide variety of opinions.

“Scotland has one of the best legal professions in the world – however improvements are needed to further support access to justice in modern Scotland. Ministers will carefully consider all the consultation responses and a report will be published in due course.”

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