The PM says when he went into the Downing Street garden, at the time he "believed this was a work event."

In hindsight he should have sent everyone back inside and should have found some other way to thank staff, he says.

He says he should have recognised that even if it could be seen as technically inside the guidance there would be millions who would not see it that way.

The PM ends his statement by offering his "heartfelt apologies" to the House and to those who were not able to see loved ones at the time.

He asks that Sue Gray be able to complete her inquiry into the drinks party and others so the facts can be known.

The prime minister says he went into the garden of Downing Street on 20 May 2020 to thank staff before going back into his office 25 minutes later.

He says in hindsight he should have sent everyone back inside.

Image source, EPA

The PM says though he cannot anticipate the conclusions of the inquiry into parties at Downing Street he knows there are things "we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility".

Image source, UK Parliament

All eyes are on Boris Johnson as he begins PMQs saying he wants to apologise.

He says he knows millions of people have suffered during the pandemic and the rage they feel with him and the government he leads when they think the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules.

Three things to watch out forpublished at 12:01 Greenwich Mean Time 12 January 2022

12:01 GMT 12 January 2022

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Three things to watch out for:

1. What does the prime minister say? Boris Johnson knows he will be asked if – as witnesses have said – he attended a drinks event in the Downing Street garden in May 2020. For the last couple of days, No 10 has dodged the question, saying instead that they’ll wait for an investigation to report. Many Tory MPs however want answers. Will they get them?
2. What support is there for the prime minister on Tory benches? The theatre of PMQs always matters – but even more so today. Who is sitting around Mr Johnson? Are they vocally supportive of him? Quiet Tory backbenchers will be a bad sign.
3. What happens after? Many Tory MPs who have concerns have been keeping quiet, waiting to see what the prime minister says. Will they break cover after; either for or against the PM?

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle gets to his feet to announce the beginning of Prime Minister’s Questions.

Stick with us for all the updates.

Prime Minister's Questions is due to start in a few minutes.

Boris Johnson will take questions from the Labour leader Keir Starmer and other MPs.

They have been demanding answers on whether the PM attended a Downing Street garden party during the first lockdown.

Stay with us.

The government's use of a so-called "VIP lane" to award millions of pounds' worth of contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) to two companies was unlawful, the High Court has ruled.

The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor claimed the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) unlawfully awarded contracts to supply PPE at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The groups took legal action over more than £340m in contracts awarded to pest control firm PestFix and a contract worth about £252m to the hedge fund Ayanda Capital.

DHSC contested the claim, telling the court it "wholeheartedly" rejected the case against it and the VIP lane was rational and resulted in a "large number of credible offers" in an environment where PPE deals often failed within "minutes".

In a judgment earlier, Mrs Justice O'Farrell says it was unlawful to give the two companies preferential treatment on the basis of being part of the VIP lane.

However, she finds both of the companies' offers "justified priority treatment on its merits" and were "very likely" to have been awarded contracts even without the VIP lane.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has left Downing Street, on his way to the Commons.

Journalists shouted questions but they are left unanswered.

Image source, Reuters

Former Conservative MP Dominic Grieve has suggested the prime minister should resign for misleading Parliament over Downing Street lockdown parties.

The former attorney general, a longstanding critic of Boris Johnson, tells the BBC News Channel: "He has in the past said there were no parties taking place. And he has misled the House of Commons.

"If he looks at his own ministerial code, which he himself reissued when he became prime minister in 2019 - with a prologue, which he wrote, which endorsed the content 100% - it says that a minister who knowingly misleads the Commons must resign."

Grieve describes this as a "defining moment", in which Parliament and the Conservative Party could "stand up for the parliamentary principle that ministers do not mislead parliament" - or show that "they're willing to tolerate a prime minister who, on the face of it, is a dishonest charlatan".

He adds that Johnson's "behaviour and reputation are so bad that it's having an adverse impact on our international relations...at a time when security is a real issue with Russia".

Staunchly pro-remain, Mr Grieve was ejected from the Conservative Party in 2019 after he backed a bill to try to stop a no-deal Brexit. He ran as a independent in the general election later that year, but lost his seat.

Image source, Family Handout

The mother of a 19-year-old woman who died from cancer last May has spoken of her anger at the revelations about the No 10 party.

Isabel McEgan, from Merseyside, died on 10 May with just her parents by her side in hospital, and her funeral took place with limited numbers just two days after the 20 May "bring your own booze" garden party.

Amanda McEgan tells BBC North West Tonight it was "heartbreaking" the family had to choose just 14 other mourners to pay their respects in person.

She adds that being aware that the government was "having parties in gardens, brings that pain back almost daily".

As we've mentioned, the investigation into various alleged lockdown parties is being led by Sue Gray. It's not known when she will publish her report.

We are about half an hour away from Prime Minister's Questions when Boris Johnson will face MPs in his first public appearance since details of a party in Downing Street on 20 May 2020 emerged.

The session will kick off at about 12:00 GMT - and unlike last week Sir Keir Starmer will be there.

The Labour leader had to miss the last PMQs when he tested positive for Covid, and his deputy Angela Rayner stood in his place.

You might be struggling to get your head around all the reports of gatherings and parties in Downing Street and government during different periods of Covid restrictions in 2020.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray is investigating if rules were broken and due to report soon.

Here's a full timeline to get you up to speed:

• 15 May: A photo from May 2020, external in the Guardian shows the prime minister and his staff with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard in the Downing Street garden. The PM says it was a work meeting.
• 20 May: This is the current event in focus. Witnesses say the PM and his wife were among about 30 people who attended. Johnson has declined to say whether he was there.
• 13 November: Sources say Downing Street staff members attended a gathering with Carrie Johnson in the flat where she and the prime minister live. She denies the party took place.
• 27 November: A leaving event was held for a No 10 aide where people were drinking and Johnson made a speech, according to sources.
• 10 December: The Department for Education has an office gathering to thank staff for their work during the pandemic.
• 14 December: The Conservative Party admits an "unauthorised gathering" took place at its HQ in Westminster. It was held by the team of the party's London mayoral candidate, Shaun Bailey.
• 15 December: Multiple sources say there was a Christmas quiz for No 10 staff. A photo published by the Sunday Mirror shows Johnson taking part and sitting between two colleagues in No 10. He denies wrongdoing.
• 16 December: The Department for Transport has apologised after confirming reports of a party in its offices, external, calling it an "error of judgment" by staff.
• 18 December: Downing Street originally denied reports that a party took place on this date. But a video obtained by ITV News showed then-press secretary Allegra Stratton joking about the party.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Nicky Campbell has been asking Radio 5 Live listeners if they think Boris Johnson should step down if he did attend a gathering during the first lockdown.

Nadia is a life-long Conservative voter and Boris Johnson supporter, she says Boris should “reconsider his position” if he was at the event, but she will be “utterly gutted” if he is no longer prime minister.

“PMQs today is absolutely crucial,” she says. “He needs to say for certain if he was there and totally apologise and give an explanation – then he may be OK.”

Joanne in Nuneaton says if Boris was aware of the party, he should have taken charge and told staff members it was against the rules.

“People couldn’t go to funerals, they couldn’t grieve for people who died,” she says. “There was so much the country gave up for those people at the party to have a knees-up and laugh at the country.”

Clare in Suffolk says she doesn’t believe it was a party, instead saying it was a social gathering.

“They would have been doing the same inside and we wouldn’t have known about it,” she says. “The mistake here was the person who sent that email and included the word booze.”

Sandy, a Conservative supporter from Surrey, says there have been “issues” going on in Downing Street but believes the media shouldn’t be having further discussions about who was right and wrong until the review findings are released.

Back in May 2020, when the Downing Street garden party took place, the UK was still under lockdown.

Ros Atkins looks at what politicians were saying at the time and the latest reaction to the allegations.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak may not be in the Commons chamber to support the PM while he faces a grilling from MPs over the 20 May party revelations, as he appears to have nipped down to Devon to visit businesses this morning.

The journey from Ilfracombe in north Devon to Parliament would take more than four hours by car and nearly six by train, which seems to imply he would struggle to make it at this point if he tried.

Sunak tweets he is "excited" to be in the town with North Devon MP Selaine Saxby.

During an urgent question over the controversy, tabled by Labour yesterday, the Tory benches were notably quiet - with not many MPs turning up to support the government's response.

So far the government has refused to confirm whether the prime minister attended the party in May 2020, citing an ongoing investigation being led by senior civil servant Sue Gray.

David Normington, a former Whitehall permanent secretary and former First Civil Service Commissioner, says the Cabinet Office official is the "best person" to look into allegations of lockdown parties in Downing Street.

Having previously served as head of the ethics team in the Cabinet Office, she has experience of investigating ministers, officials and advisers.

Asked whether there should have been an external investigation into allegations of Downing Street rule-breaking, Normington says it might have been "better to have someone from outside", but adds: "If we are going to have a civil servant doing it, Sue Gray is the best person to do it.

"She has the confidence both of people who worked in previous governments, Labour governments and Conservative governments, so we are where we are."

You can read more about the allegations she is investigating here.

The revelations of a drinks party in Downing Street during the first lockdown has led to an outpouring of stories from people about sacrifices they were making at the time, in line with Covid regulations.

Victoria in Glasgow tells us she gave birth on the same day as the garden party, 20 May 2020.

She says her husband was only allowed in the hospital during the planned caesarean section and for 45 minutes afterwards.

She then had to recover in hospital alone with their new baby son: “There were no visitors allowed at all. My husband wasn’t even able to bring a bag for me."

Victoria says it is "very hard to hear that those in senior government positions were living life completely differently on this day".

She adds: “I don’t feel angry, but all of us had to abide by these rules.”

Revelations of another Downing Street party during lockdown and the PM's refusal to say if he was there have angered a number of Conservatives. Here are some MPs who were willing to go on record.

• Backbench MP Nigel Mills told the BBC: "I think if he knowingly attended what he knew to be party, then he can't survive that."
• Fellow backbencher Neil Hudson says "if rules have been broken then quite rightly there should be serious consequences"
• Chairman of the Defence Committee Tobias Ellwood tells Sky News the PM should "show some contrition"
• Charles Walker says he does not think there was malicious intent but "the prime minister and the No 10 team will know that there were significant errors of judgment made back in May 2020"
• And Christian Wakeford tweets: "How do you defend the indefensible? You can't! It's embarrassing and what's worse is it further erodes trust in politics when it's already low."
• Leader of the Scottish Tories Douglas Ross says Johnson can not carry on if he is found to have misled Parliament

What happened?

As many as 100 people were invited to a "bring-your-own-booze" drinks event in Downing Street on 20 May 2020 - when lockdown rules in England banned large outdoor gatherings.

Staff were emailed about the "socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden". Witnesses say Boris Johnson and his wife were among about 30 people who attended.

Why does it matter?

At the time the government was telling people to only meet outdoors with one other person who they didn't live with. And so the revelation of an organised event involving dozens has stirred up fury.

We've been hearing from people who at the time couldn't be with dying relatives because they obeyed the Covid rules.

MPs in Boris Johnson's party are also angry. He will face them, and Labour leader Keir Starmer, later at prime minister's questions.

What has the PM said?

Johnson has declined to say whether he attended the 20 May garden party. He says it's a matter for senior civil servant Sue Gray, who is currently investigating various gatherings in Downing Street in 2020.

But the PM has previously said - in reference to alleged Christmas parties in 2020 - that he broke no rules.