Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak pictured at an event on June 19 2020 at Downing Street
(Image: PA Media)

Boris Johnson says 'I ate no blooming cake' at partygate birthday event

28 Sep 2024, 07:50 by Ashlie Blakey · Manchester Evening News

Boris Johnson has said he 'ate no blooming cake' at an event held on his 56th birthday.

The former prime minister has spoken out about the 'partygate' bash in his new memoir and described it as the 'feeblest event in the history of human festivity'. Mr Johnson claimed he 'saw no cake, ate no blooming cake' and 'did not sing or dance'.

He said it 'never occurred' to him or then-chancellor Rishi Sunak that the birthday gathering was 'in some way against the rules' in place for the Covid-19 pandemic at the time. In the memoir, according to an extract published in the Daily Mail, Mr Johnson wrote: "Here is what actually happened that day.

"I stood briefly at my place in the Cabinet Room, where I have meetings throughout the day, while the Chancellor and assorted members of staff said happy birthday. I saw no cake. I ate no blooming cake.

"If this was a party, it was the feeblest event in the history of human festivity. I had only just got over Covid. I did not sing. I did not dance."

Downing Street previously admitted staff 'gathered briefly' in the Cabinet Room for what was reportedly a surprise get-together for Mr Johnson organised by his now-wife Carrie. An ally of the former prime minister, Conor Burns, said Mr Johnson was 'ambushed with a cake' at the event.

Boris Johnson giving evidence at the Covid-19 Inquiry
(Image: PA Media)

The law at the time banned two or more people from different households being indoors at the same time. Mr Johnson became the first prime minister to receive a criminal penalty while in office, over partygate, when he, his wife and then-chancellor Rishi Sunak received £50 fixed-penalty notices from Scotland Yard for attending the bash.

An investigation by former senior civil servant Sue Gray said Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak were not aware of the event on June 19 2020 in advance, and that 'those attending consumed food and drink, and some drank alcohol'. No 10 denied reports that, later the same evening, family and friends were hosted upstairs to celebrate the occasion.

Elsewhere in the memoir, Mr Johnson wrote that he was 'amazed' at reports he had been dancing drunkenly at partygate events. He said that 'nothing of the kind actually happened', according to the newspaper.