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The senior civil servant is said to have discussed with the Prime Minister where she believed the Metropolitan Police were with the Partygate inquiry. The pair also talked about Whitehall’s understanding of where the police were on interviews, according to Sky News. It has not been revealed who initiated the “meeting” or whether Ms Gray will include pictures of gatherings in her report.

The revelations are likely to be seized on by Mr Johnson’s critics to question the report’s independence.

But the meeting was just an “update”, a source told the Daily Express last night.

Mr Johnson is among 30 individuals facing criticism in Ms Gray’s report into Downing Street and Whitehall lockdown rule breaking.

She is contacting anyone who is named or indirectly referred to ahead of its publication. They have until 5pm tomorrow to respond.

Mr Johnson, who was yesterday visiting a honey factory in Newtown, Powys, insisted he will not block any names from appearing in the document and said he hopes it can be published next week.

He said: “I’m very grateful to the Met for their work, I’m thankful for everything they’ve done. We just need to wait for Sue Gray to report, fingers crossed, that will be very soon, and I’ll be saying some more next week.”

He said it was up to Ms Gray “entirely” to decide what details will be released. The Met’s £460,000 investigation concluded with 126 fines – with 28 people receiving up to five fixed penalty notices each.

There were calls for Scotland Yard to explain how Mr Johnson received just one, for his 56th birthday gathering in June 2020 when indoor mixing was banned. He is believed to have been present at multiple rule-breaking events.

There has also been no explanation as to why Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who had to remove himself from running the civil service inquiry after reports of a Cabinet Office Christmas party surfaced, has not been fined.

Crossbench peer and former director of public prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald said: “This was a major scandal at the heart of Government, at the heart of the civil service, and we remain very much in the dark about who was involved, who organised the parties, and who was responsible.”

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