The Times broke Partygate in June 2020 and didn't even realise

When ITV first revealed the news that Boris Johnson might have attended a lockdown breaching birthday event in June 2020, it triggered a chain of events.

The story - of the PM, his wife, the interior designer, Lulu Lytle and others, eating cake, singing happy birthday, and chowing down on picnic food from M&S when households were forbidden from mixing socially - angered the nation, launched this "ambushed with a cake" meme and helped trigger a police investigation into a number of events alleged to have happened in Downing Street during lockdown.

This chain of events culminated yesterday when Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak were both slapped with a £50 fine for breaking the rules, and Johnson was forced to mumble out an apology for becoming the first prime minister to be sanctioned by the police for breaking the law while in office.

How strange, then, that news of Johnson's birthday bash has been available in the public domain for almost two years.

Indeed, the day after the party took place, the Times ran a piece about the week that was in politics with this colourful introduction:

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"Boris Johnson celebrated his 56th birthday yesterday with a small gathering in the cabinet room. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, and a group of aides sang him Happy Birthday before they tucked into a Union Jack cake.

"The celebrations provided a brief respite after another gruelling week that featured two U-turns in 48 hours, Conservative backbenchers in open revolt and the government’s competence called into question again."

Here's a link to the full article.

Despite that clear reporting, it would take until January 2022 for ITV to put to to Johnson and the reader as evidence that he may have broken the very same laws he made.

Like we said, how strange.

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