A minister has rejected calls for a new investigation to be launched into fresh allegations of a gathering taking place in the Downing Street flat on Boris Johnson's birthday at a time when Covid rules were in place.

       Chris Philp, the technology minister, said there has already been an "unbelievably comprehensive set of investigations" into the partygate scandal in the form of the Sue Gray report and the Metropolitan Police probe.

       Mr Philp said: "So having had two separate investigations including by the police over many months it is not immediately obvious to me that we need any more investigations when this has probably been, rightly been, the most thoroughly investigated set of incidents in recent times.”

       Carrie Johnson, Mr Johnson's wife, is alleged to have sent texts to a Number 10 aide which indicate she hosted a gathering in their Downing Street flat with male friends during lockdown. The Gray inquiry was made aware of the existence of the text messages in January but the event was not investigated.

       The gathering on June 19, 2020 on Mr Johnson’s 56th birthday was attended by at least two friends of his wife, it has been claimed. Covid rules at the time banned indoor gatherings of two or more people except for work purposes.

       Labour has written to Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, to demand a new investigation be launched.

       ？？Follow the latest updates below.

       Russian forces are edging closer to the centre of the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk despite fierce resistance, Luhansk's regional governor has said (you can follow the latest on Ukraine here).

       Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said he fears that Russian forces could soon push west to eventually secure the port city of Odesa.

       He said: "If this falls then Russian forces will continue pressing west, they will consolidate in that area. My concern then is they will then move round to the port of Odesa and they will do to Odesa what they did to Mariupol.

       “If that happens Ukraine is then landlocked but more critically that grain will not be able to get out of the country.

       “We are now coming to realise that Ukraine is the breadbasket for Europe and beyond. We face a cost of living crisis here that is in part fuelled by the war in Ukraine.”

       Boris Johnson is "determined to hang onto office at any cost", Lisa Nandy claimed this morning as she said the Government is distracted by questions about the PM's future.

       The shadow levelling up secretary told Sky News: “I think what he has shown is that he is determined to hang onto office at any cost, whatever it costs not just his political party but the country as well.

       “While the Government is embroiled in this chaos, the Sunday papers were full of it, about how many letters have gone in, it looks like quite a few Tory MPs have decided they don’t have any confidence in their Prime Minister… while they are obsessing about themselves, the country is being allowed to fall apart.

       “We have got public services crumbling, we have got people who can’t afford their shopping and their energy bills, businesses going under. This country needs a plan and it needs leadership and I am sorry that Boris Johnson is clinging onto power sat any cost, not because it is bad for the Tory Party but because it is bad for the country.”

       Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, last week announced a new ￡15 billion package of cost of living support, part-funded by a new windfall tax.

       Labour had long called for the tax to be imposed and Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, today accused the Chancellor of wasting seven months.

       She told Sky News: “If he had done that [the windfall tax] seven months ago we would be in a position now where we were able to put in place long term planning to get the economy growing and to deal with the structural issues that underpin this crisis. Instead he has dithered and delayed for seven months. We have got the short term fix but what we haven’t got is the long-term plan.”

       She added: “We have put a lot of things on the table, they pinched our ideas last time, they can have them again this time, we just want them to get on with fixing the very, very big problems facing everybody in this country.”

       Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, said the "revelations keep coming” on partygate following the latest claims about a gathering in the Downing Street flat.

       The Labour frontbencher told Sky News: “I think what this shows for me is not that there has been another party or that there should be another investigation, much more that there is clearly a culture that the Prime Minister has presided over where people made the rules, they broke the rules, they lied about it and they laughed about it and they are still trying to get away with it.

       “For a lot families in this country that is incredibly offensive, for the whole country that is a very serious thing.”

       Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, was asked if she agreed with Chris Philp's call for councils to show "flexibility" when it comes to granting permission for Jubilee street parties (see the post below at 08.35).

       Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News: “Councils are under a lot of pressure, not least because of this Tory government but I know from my own council in Wigan that we are making sure that anyone who wants to have a Jubilee street party can do so.”

       She added: “You know, Kay, that Wigan is the sort of place where people will probably do it anyway so the council is working with the community to make sure we can have as much fun as possible, deadlines and no deadlines.”

       Boris Johnson will pave the way for the return of pounds and ounces in British shops this week, in a "common sense" move heralded by Tory MPs as taking advantage of freedoms delivered by Brexit (you can read the full story here).

       Chris Philp, the technology minister, was asked during an interview on Sky News if he believed people will care about the move amid the cost of living crisis.

       He said: “I think it is just allowing a bit of our national heritage and culture back onto the shop shelf.

       “But you mention the cost of living and of course last week the Government announced a enormous ￡15billion package to help with he cost of living challenges that we face.”

       The Government sparked a row at the end of last week by announcing it had made changes to the ministerial code. The changes included Boris Johnson re-writing the foreword to the document as Labour accused the Prime Minister of removing all references to "integrity" and "honesty".

       Chris Philp, the technology minister, defended the PM and said the commitment to upholding such values is still included in the body of the code.

       He said the foreword is simply a "general introduction" and Mr Johnson removed the references because he "wanted to talk about whatever he wanted to talk about" in the foreword.

       “The foreword gets updated periodically but those things you talked about are of course in the body of the ministerial code," Mr Philp told Sky News. "They haven’t been completely deleted, they are still in there and obviously things like honesty, integrity, proper behaviour in the workplace and so on, all of those things are still in the ministerial code.”

       Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, has called on Uefa to launch an urgent investigation into what happened in Paris on Saturday night after chaotic scenes marred the Champion's League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

       Chris Philp, the technology minister, said the footballing organisation must now "properly investigate" and "get to the bottom of it".

       He told Sky News: “I was horrified to see those pictures of fans, including some children, disabled fans, being pepper sprayed by French police and by the pictures I saw there was no obvious justification for that kind of behaviour.

       “So Nadine, I think, is quite right to call for Uefa to urgently investigate exactly what happened there because we don’t want to see football fans, least of all children and disabled fans, being pepper sprayed by police in the way that we saw. I really am concerned by it, the Government are as well, and we need Uefa to properly investigate exactly what happened and get to the bottom of it.”

       Members of the public have been warned against hosting unauthorised Platinum Jubilee street celebrations in a crackdown by "party killjoys" (you can read the full story here).

       But Chris Philp, the technology minister, has now urged councils to show "flexibility" and to grant permission for street parties even if the application is submitted after a deadline.

       He told Sky News: “I think it is fantastic we are celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee and I would just say to local councils around the country, including my own in Croydon, if you do get a late application and maybe the deadline has technically passed, I would just say to councils to show a little bit of flexibility, show a little bit of willingness to accommodate people and if you are at all able to, please do grant these requests even if they are made technically after the deadline.

       “Let’s just show a bit of flexibility and pragmatism in support of Her Majesty’s 70th Jubilee.”

       Chris Philp, the technology minister, was told that the messages in question ((see the post below at 08.22) had not been seen by Sue Gray as part of her partygate investigation.

       Asked again if the messages should be subject to a new investigation, Mr Philp told Sky News: “My instinctive reaction is that there have been two incredibly thorough investigations that have gone on and unless there is something really striking that hasn’t been known about previously then I think they have been looked into really thoroughly and the report was incredibly thorough.”

       Carrie Johnson is alleged to have sent texts to a Number 10 aide which indicate she hosted a gathering in the Downing Street flat with male friends during lockdown. It was claimed the gathering on June 19, 2020 on Boris Johnson's birthday was attended by at least two friends of his wife.

       Labour has called for an investigation into the messages but Chris Philp, the technology minister, this morning suggested he does not believe a new probe is necessary.

       He told Sky News: "I think we have had an unbelievably comprehensive set of investigations going on now for a period of nearly six months. We have had obviously the Sue Gray investigation published last week and she interviewed, goodness knows, dozens or possibly even hundreds of people in the course of her investigation, looked at emails, messages and everything else, and we have had the Metropolitan Police investigation which again has gone on over a number of months and they conducted that with full police powers.

       “So having had two separate investigations including by the police over many months it is not immediately obvious to me that we need any more investigations when this has probably been, rightly been, the most thoroughly investigated set of incidents in recent times.”

       Good morning and welcome to today's politics live blog.

       The Government continues to be rocked by the fallout from the Sue Gray report following its publication last Wednesday.

       Boris Johnson is trying to move on and steady his premiership but he is facing renewed pressure this morning over fresh partygate claims.

       I will guide you through the key developments.

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