Boris Johnson is to admit he was present in his Downing Street flat during the lockdown-busting ‘Abba party’ — but only in order to conduct a job interview with a close friend of his wife.

       The prime minister has refused to say whether he was at the 13 November, 2020 gathering – held to mark the departure of Dominic Cummings – but is now conceding privately that he was there.

       The sound of The Winner Takes It All is said to have boomed through the building, making it one of the most controversial of up to six events Mr Johnson attended in apparent breach of Covid laws.

       Last week, Mr Johnson told Tory MPs it was “a work event” — lifting the lid on the evidence he is likely to have given the police and Sue Gray’s stalled Cabinet Office inquiry.

       Now, he is expected to argue that he invited Henry Newman — then an adviser to Michael Gove — to join him in the No 11 flat where he lives with his wife and children.

       Recommended Brexit checks on EU food imports scrapped, Rees-Mogg reveals Number of UK passports plummeted 2.5 million in two years Rishi Sunak ‘warns mortgage payments set to rise by ￡1,000 a year’

       A government source told The Times that Mr Johnson has claimed he did not break the law because he was conducting a work-related interview with the adviser in another part of the flat. The PM invited Mr Newman up to the flat to distance the pair from leaving drinks being held elsewhere in the building for Lee Cain, who had just been ousted as his director of communications.

       Separately, Downing Street has not denied that the prime minister effectively turned Mr Cain’s event into a leaving party. “He said he wanted to say a few words for Lee and started pouring drinks for people and drinking himself,” a source told the Sunday Times.

       Carrie Johnson has previously described her close friend Mr Newman as her political “bestie” and he is said to be a regular Downing Street visitor.