Jacob Rees-Mogg dismisses partygate as 'trivial fluff'

Cabinet minster Jacob Rees-Mogg has dismissed concerns over parties in Downing Street during lockdown as "fluff" and "fundamentally trivial".

Speaking at the Conservative spring conference, he said war in Ukraine "was a reminder that the world is serious".

The Metropolitan Police are investigating 12 parties that took place in Downing Street and on other government premises.

Boris Johnson has come under severe pressure to resign over them.

But calls from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and some Tory MPs for the prime minister to go have subsided since Russia invaded Ukraine last month.

Officers investigating lockdown parties in Downing Street have received more than 80 completed questionnaires from aides, officials and politicians including the prime minister.

But no one is yet known to have been given a fixed-penalty notice for breaking Covid rules.

Asked about the controversy, known as "partygate", he said: "All of that is shown up [by the war] for the disproportionate fluff of politics that it was, rather than something of fundamental seriousness about the safety of the world and the established global order."

The Brexit opportunities and government efficiency minister told a fringe event at the conference in Blackpool: "When we look back in 36 years at partygate, people will think, 'What were they on about? They were passing from Covid and dealing with that to Russia and Ukraine... yet they were distracted by whether or not the prime minister spent five minutes in his own garden, or 25 minutes, whatever it is.'

"You see, one quickly can​'t remember the precise amounts of time because it's fundamentally trivial."

In January, Mr Rees-Mogg questioned, in the House of Commons. whether Covid rules had been "proportionate" or whether the regime had been "too hard on people".

And, in October last year, he said Conservative MPs did not need to wear masks during parliamentary debates because they "have a more convivial, fraternal spirit" than those of other parties, "and therefore are following the guidance of Her Majesty's government".

Senior civil servant Sue Gray will publish her completed report on Downing Street parties after the Met Police finish their investigation.

Her provisional report, released in January, criticised "failures of leadership and judgement" and said some of the events "should not have been allowed to take place".

Mr Johnson has admitted attending drinks in the Downing Street garden on 20 May 2020, while other events under police investigation include a celebration for his birthday in No 10's Cabinet Room on 19 June 2020.

He has apologised for "misjudgements that were made" but said he had "believed implicitly" that the garden drinks were a "work event", adding: "But, with hindsight, I should have sent everybody back inside."

A photograph from 15 May 2020 shows the prime minister and his staff with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard in the Downing Street garden. This event is not under police investigation.