Four senior aides to Boris Johnson resign - “Partygate”

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Downing Street announced in an evening statement that it had accepted the resignations of Martin Reynolds, Boris Johnson's chief secretary who emailed around 100 people inviting them to a drinks party in May 2020, and his chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, a year after he took office.

The prime minister thanked them for their "important contribution to government", including their work on the pandemic and economic recovery, a spokesman said in a statement.

"They will remain in place until their successors are appointed," he added.

The announcement of the departures was preceded earlier in the day by those of Munira Mirza, Downing Street's head of policy, and communications chief Jack Doyle, who was allegedly at one of the offending parties.

Mirza said her resignation was over Johnson making a "misleading" accusation against the opposition leader when he was defending himself in Parliament on Wednesday following the release of a damning internal report on the Downing Street lockdown-breaching gatherings which highlighted "failures of leadership".

After he had once again apologised for the gatherings during a session in parliament on Monday, Johnson accused Labour Party leader Keir Starmer of allowing the late ex-BBC star paedophile Jimmy Savile to escape justice when he was head of the UK prosecution service.

The use of this accusation, which is widespread in conspiracy and far-right circles, caused an outcry.