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* BYOB party ups pressure on Johnson
* Johnson has said all rules were followed
* Government apologises for upset that claims caused
* Johnson attended party in May 2020 - ITV
(Recasts headline and first paragraph, edits)
By Alistair Smout and William James
LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Boris Johnson's leadership faced
its most serious threat yet on Tuesday after it emerged his
private secretary invited over 100 people to a "bring your own
booze" party at the British Prime Minister's official residence
during a coronavirus lockdown.
Johnson, who won a landslide election victory in 2019, has
faced intense scrutiny over the past month after a video emerged
showing his staff laughing and joking about a different party
also held in Downing Street during a 2020 Christmas lockdown.
Revelations about a series of gatherings that took place in
the heart of government have been widely criticised, and
prompted opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to accuse
Johnson of lacking the moral authority to lead the country.
The latest, if substantiated by an internal inquiry, would
be the most damaging yet for Johnson's future as his own
lawmakers show signs of losing patience after a series of
scandals, and polls show the party slipping behind Labour.
Johnson and his partner Carrie were among those who gathered
with about 40 staff in the garden of Downing Street on May 20,
2020, after the PM's Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds
sent an invite by email using the pronoun "we", ITV reported.
Johnson's spokesman declined to comment on the report.
At the time, schools were shut to most pupils, and pubs and
restaurants were closed, with strict controls on social mixing.
Police prosecuted revellers, and people were prevented from
bidding farewell in person to dying relatives.
"If the prime minister broke the law, he will resign won't
he?" Labour lawmaker Ben Bradshaw asked Paymaster General
Michael Ellis who sat alone on the government's front bench in
parliament to answer in place of Johnson.
"The prime minister is going nowhere," Ellis said to Labour
jeers. Ellis apologised unreservedly for the upset that the
allegations had caused.
Only a smattering of Conservative lawmakers attended the
debate, and few spoke in support of Johnson.
Labour's Afzal Khan, asking if Johnson would apologise to
bereaved families for holding such parties, related how his
mother had died alone in hospital in 2020 while he sat in a car
outside.
"Even burdened with our grief, my family obeyed the rules,"
Khan said.
LOCKDOWN PARTIES
A senior government official, Sue Gray, is currently
investigating allegations of at least five parties held in
government departments last year during lockdown restrictions.
Asked about the claims of Downing Street parties, Johnson
told parliament last month that all COVID-19 guidance had been
followed, no rules had been broken and that there had been no
party in Downing Street.
Opponents said that if Johnson had attended a party during a
lockdown, his position would be in danger as such revelry would
show disdain for the rules.
"Did the prime minister attend the event in the Downing
Street garden on May 20, 2020?," the opposition Labour Party's
deputy leader, Angela Rayner, asked. "If the prime minister was
there, surely he knew?"
Over recent months, Johnson, 57, has faced criticism over
his handling of a sleaze scandal, the awarding of lucrative
COVID-19 contracts, the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat
and a claim he intervened to ensure pets were evacuated during
the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan in August.
London police, who previously declined to investigate the
claims of government officials' lockdown gatherings, said on
Monday they were in contact with the Cabinet Office over the
alleged breaches of health protection laws in Downing Street.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout and William James; Writing by Guy
Faulconbridge; Editing by William Maclean, Catherine Evans and
John Stonestreet)
