Reading’s councillor for health blasted the prime minister after he admitted attending a “bring your own booze” gathering in the garden of No 10 during England’s first lockdown.

Boris Johnson told the House of Commons on Wednesday he “believed implicitly” that the May 2020 occasion was a work event, but that he “should have sent everyone back inside” and apologised to MPs.

Reading Borough councillor Graeme Hoskin said the Prime Minister was “caught red-handed.”

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“Think back to what you were doing in May 2020 – what you and your loved ones missed, what you sacrificed, what you lost. It is absolutely sickening,” he said, adding that 224 people died from Covid-19 in Reading in 2020.

“Now it is clear that while the people of Reading suffered and made huge sacrifices to follow the rules, Boris Johnson and his team were drinking and laughing away – laughing at us.

The councillor said: “In Reading, countless more lost special moments – missed funerals, weddings and crucial life events.”

He called for an apology to “every single one of us in Reading who has suffered over these last two years.”

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Senior civil servant Sue Gray has been tasked with leading an inquiry into alleged No 10 rule-breaking during coronavirus lockdowns.

Her remit includes looking into the allegation that Downing Street staff, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, attended a “bring your own booze” party on May 20 2020, at a time when more than two people were banned from socialising outdoors together.

MP for Reading East Matt Rodda he supports the gathering being “fully investigated.”

“I am deeply disappointed and upset by the suggestion that he has been to these parties because of what the pandemic has done to so many people.

He continued: “There are so many people that we all know who have suffered terribly. The whole thing really saddens me.”

At Prime Minister's Questions, Johnson said he attended the gathering for around 25 minutes.

“I should have recognised that even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there are millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way, people who have suffered terribly, people who were forbidden for meeting loved ones at all inside or outside, and to them and to this House I offer my heartfelt apologies.”