Treasury officials held a drinks party in their office to celebrate Rishi Sunak’s spending review during lockdown last year, The Times has learnt.
About two dozen civil servants are understood to have attended the event in the Treasury on November 25. At the time non-essential shops, bars and restaurants were closed and the public was told to stay at home except for exercise and to get food.
Government sources said that a team of officials working on Sunak’s spending review announcement remained behind afterwards for a drinks party.
They said that wine and beer were brought into the Treasury but insisted that it had not been planned.
“They’d all been working really hard,” the sources said. “They had to be in the office anyway that day. It wasn’t a formal party but perhaps in hindsight it wasn’t the most sensible thing to do.”
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Another source said that it showed a pattern of behaviour across Whitehall.
“Nobody really questioned it or thought that there was anything wrong,” the insider said. “The trouble is now it is in the spotlight more of these things are coming to light and it’s become a blame game.”
Sunak was not at the event and is understood not to have been aware of it at the time. A Treasury spokesman said: “In line with the guidance at the time, a number of staff came into the office to work on the Spending Review 2020.
“We have been made aware that a small number of those staff had impromptu drinks around their desks after the event.” A source added that Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, would be made aware of the event and he would have to decide if he wanted to include it in his investigation.
Case is investigating last year’s Downing Street Christmas party of December 18, a leaving party also in No 10 on November 27 and a party in the education department on December 10.
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The Times has been told of photographs from the Downing Street party that could be handed over to Case. At least one photo shows staff wearing Christmas jumpers.
Case is also expected to have access to WhatsApp messages used to organise the event that are understood to refer to a significant amount of alcohol that would be available.
Sources said that Jack Doyle, Boris Johnson’s director of communications, had offered to quit before the inquiry. Johnson refused to accept his resignation, however.
A senior Conservative said that Doyle “handed his cards in” to Johnson. “The PM turned him down,” the Tory added. “Boris is thinking he needs to throw someone under the bus. He’s trying to keep Jack around to make him the fall guy. He’s good at convincing people that he’s looking after them.”
Another Downing Street figure said: “It’s fair to say that it’s been a pretty miserable time. No one knows where it is going to end. Jack’s position is looking very difficult.”
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Government sources said that Case intended to complete his investigation by the Cabinet Office’s proprietary and ethics team in the next two weeks so that it wasn’t hanging over staff at Christmas. Johnson is expected to maintain that the event did not amount to a party but was simply staff having drinks on an evening when many of them would have been expected to remain in the office. He has previously told the Commons that he had been “repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party”.
A Whitehall source said this put Case in a difficult position. “He is in an extremely difficult situation. All the evidence points to a party in the way any normal person would understand it. How can he escape that?”
Mark Spencer, the chief whip, insisted that Downing Street staff “were not drinking alcohol” and partying during Covid restrictions. He told BBC Radio Nottingham that Johnson “will not have lied about any parties”. He added: “I’m assured that everybody in that building played by the rules.”
He said that like many people suffering under Covid restrictions, the prime minister also had “a miserable Christmas dealing with all of this”.
The inquiry into the Downing Street parties could be assisted by a former BBC presenter, named in connection with the leaking of the video.
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Chris James has been identified as a potential source of the ITV News footage showing staff laughing about a party during a mock press conference.
James, a broadcast technology expert, was working for No 10 but his contract has since ended.
Johnson’s official spokesman has confirmed that No 10 and the Treasury have cancelled their Christmas parties but the public should go ahead with their festive plans.
