it actually gets worse...

source: the times:

The revelation of Case’s party will pose serious questions about whether he can continue to lead the inquiry into allegations of Christmas rule-breaking in Downing Street.

One source defended Case by saying the event was a quiz, people were sitting down and Case did not actively participate.

The Guido Fawkes website claimed that two parties had taken place in Case’s offices last December, at least one of them involving drinking and music.

Case, 42, who was hand-picked by Johnson first to become Downing Street permanent secretary and then the head of the civil service last year, has been charged with looking at not only the event on December 18 but also claims of a party in Johnson’s flat.

Earlier today, a cabinet minister appeared to prejudge the conclusions of the independent investigation when he said the inquiry would “vindicate” the prime minister.

Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party’s co-chairman, said there had been a “perception” of rule-breaking but he was confident that Case would clear the prime minister of all wrongdoing.

“I understand and I appreciate that there was a perception, particularly from the media coverage surrounding those alleged events, that we were not abiding by the rules,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

“I have to say there is an inquiry by the cabinet secretary and I am confident that that inquiry will vindicate the prime minister’s assertion that everything that happened was in the rules.”

Speaking after the Conservatives slumped to a shock defeat in the North Shropshire by-election, Dowden admitted that the “noise and sound” about Christmas parties had been a matter of “concern to voters”.

He also said that a party for Shaun Bailey, the Tories former mayoral candidate, hosted at Tory party headquarters and first revealed by The Times was “appalling”. “It was an unauthorised party, it was appalling, it was wrong,” he said. “People have been punished for it and it’s right that they were punished for it.”

The Metropolitan Police has said that two people who attended the drinks party on December 14 last year would be questioned over a possible breach of coronavirus rules.

Shaun Bailey has resigned from his position on the policing committee over his involvment in the incident
Shaun Bailey has resigned from his position on the policing committee over his involvment in the incident

Dowden’s intervention is the second time in a matter of days that Case has come under significant pressure from ministers to conclude that no Christmas parties took place in Downing Street.

Earlier this week Johnson himself appeared to undermine Case’s investigation when he insisted that no parties had been hosted in No 10. The prime minister said that the events had been “mischaracterised”.

Posted By: Tombs, Dec 17, 17:23:30