POLICE are probing allegations of a lockdown-breaking party in the PM’s flat — and could interview him and wife Carrie any day.
The Met said last night they were wading through 300 images linked to Covid rule-flouting at Downing Street and would speak to those involved.
An alleged bash on the night Boris Johnson’s aide Dominic Cummings was forced out of No10 in November 2020 is one of 12 events police said they were probing after being handed evidence from Whitehall inquisitor Sue Gray.
It is claimed Abba hit The Winner Takes It All blared from the PM’s flat as his wife celebrated winning a bitter power struggle over Mr Cummings.
Mr Johnson insists there was no party.
The latest twist in the Partygate saga came as Ms Gray finally published a heavily censored version of her long-awaited probe.
She tore into “failures of leadership and judgment” inside No10 during lockdown, saying rules set for the public were ignored.
But the gory details of more than a dozen cases of rule-breaking will not be published until the police inquiry has finished — which Met Commander Catherine Roper said should not take “more than a year”.
On another day of Partygate dominating Westminster:
- THE Met confirmed they will interview suspects after considering 300 images and 500 pages of evidence about 12 events;
- SENIOR Tories including Theresa May savaged the PM’s handling of the scandal and a junior ministerial aide quit in disgust;
- THE Prime Minister privately begged MPs not to sack him, saying he nearly died of Covid so understood public anger;
- HE confirmed legendary Aussie election guru Sir Lynton Crosby — nicknamed the Wizard of Oz — will return to get a grip on No10;
- THE PM had to postpone a call with Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin ahead of his visit to Ukraine today.
Updating MPs on Ms Gray’s findings, the PM vowed an overhaul of No10, a booze ban in the building and a new code of conduct for staff.
He told a baying Commons: “I get it, and I will fix it.”
The watered-down probe found there was a “serious failure” by No10 to stick to the same Covid lockdown rules the rest of the country were forced to live under.
In a brief but damning assessment, Ms Gray said there were failures at the very top of government.
She slammed No10’s boozy culture and said whistle-blowers were too scared to speak out.
In a nine-page report — gutted on police orders — she said No10 and the Cabinet Office fell woefully below expected standards.
Ms Gray wrote: “There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times.
“Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place.
“Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”
She said “at least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time”.
And she said that at times “too little thought” was given to the suffering of the public.
The report warned the “excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time” and called for a crackdown on booze in Whitehall.
Ordering the PM to clean up his act, she added: “There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across Government.”
Ms Gray made it clear the Met’s request she make “minimal reference” to matters it was probing prevented her publishing a meaningful report on all the claims.
But she pushed ahead with what she could release because of the massive public interest.
Under heavy pressure from Tory MPs yesterday, Downing Street promised to publish the full report after the police finish their probe.
Mr Johnson had initially batted away the call — saying he would wait and decide after the cops make their findings.
But his half-hearted response sparked fury from the Tory benches behind him — who hold his fate in their hands.
One MP, Tobias Ellwood, had warned: “If the PM fails to publish the report in full then he will no longer have my support.”
Tory grandee Julian Lewis said it is in the “national interest” to publish all findings while senior MP Mark Harper warned many Brits are questioning the PM’s “honesty and integrity”.
No10 then did a U-turn, with a spokeswoman saying: “At the end of the process, the Prime Minister will ask Sue Gray to update her work in light of what is found.
“He will publish that update. However the Prime Minister is clear we must not judge an ongoing investigation and his focus now is on addressing the general findings.”
Mr Harper also says the Met should “get their skates on” and finish their probe so MPs can decide the PM’s fate.
A chastened Mr Johnson apologised to MPs in the Commons an hour after the report was published, promising: “I get it, and I will fix it.”
The PM said: “Firstly, I want to say sorry. Sorry for the things we simply did not get right and sorry for the way that this matter has been handled.
“It is no use saying that this or that was within the rules. It is no use saying that people were working hard. This pandemic was hard for everyone.
