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UK’S Johnson faces birthday party allegation as he fights for job

LONDON — Britain’s Boris Johnson was fighting to shore up his premiership on Monday after his office said his birthday in 2020 was marked by a gathering in Downing Street, adding fuel to an investigation into government parties during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Johnson, who in

2019 won the biggest Conservative majority in more than 30 years, is facing a raft of accusations that he and his staff partied during the worst pandemic for a century and a complaint of racist discrimination in his party.

The new allegation come just days before an official investigation by Cabinet Office official Sue Gray into the lockdown parties is due to be published later this week.

ITV News said up to 30 people attended the June 2020 birthday event, during the first COVID lockdown, in 10 Downing Street, his central London office and residence. Social gatherings indoors were banned at the time.

The prime minister was believed to have been presented with a cake while his wife led staff in a chorus of happy birthday, it said.

Johnson’s office disputed that it was a party, telling ITV: “A group of staff working in No. 10 that day gathered briefly in the Cabinet Room after a meeting to wish the prime minister a happy birthday.”

“He was there for less than 10 minutes,” it said.

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2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-25T08:00:00.0000000Z

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