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 Summary

On 16 April 2021 two separate leaving events took place in No 10, one for the Director of Communications, James Slack, and one for a No 10 official. Alcohol was available at both events and there were speeches. Senior officials attended. Both groups met in the No 10 garden later that evening. The events lasted for several hours. The Prime Minister was not in residence.

Preparations

On 7 April 2021 an invitation for a leaving event was sent from the Press Office Mailbox to at least 77 members of staff in No 10, including the Prime Minister s Private Office, Press Office and others, inviting them to a ’Team meeting and leaving Presentation’ for James Slack and a Private Office official scheduled for 17.00-19.00 on 29 April 2021. At 12.35 on the same day, the invitation was forwarded, again by the Press Office Mailbox, to two distribution lists: ’Legislation and PMPOST - ALL’.

This original event scheduled for 29 April 2021 did not take place. Instead the invitation was updated for an event on Friday 16 April 2021 for James Slack s leaving event only. The location now read ’Pillared Room/Zoom Then The Garden’.

The events

Two leaving events took place on 16 April 2021. One, the event for James Slack and the other, an event to mark the departure of a No 10 official. This latter event was organised on the day, by email which sent at 16.26 by a No 10 official to the No 10 Digital team, No 10 Press Office, Events & Visits and others. There was no scheduled time for the event on the invitation. This email invitation included a Microsoft Teams link so that individuals could attend virtually and was called ’[No 10 official] Leaving Presentation’. The location was the No 10 Digital Team office which is situated in the basement of No 10.

The Digital team is part of the No 10 Press Office team and there was considerable overlap in attendance at the two events. The first, for James Slack, began at approximately 18.30, with speeches in the Press Office. He wished to thank his team members individually and to set out future direction for the team. It lasted for around an hour and there were approximately 45 people in total in attendance both in the office and with a small number online. Those present in person came from across No 10, including senior officials. Some joined the event virtually. Wine and beer had been bought by staff and was consumed by some during the speeches.

Following the speeches, some staff returned to work but others continued chatting and drinking. They remained for some time and were present when the building 34