The Spectator summer party, in pictures | 13 July 2017

After David Lidington complained about ‘warm prosecco’ fuelling Tory leadership plotting, the Cabinet stepped things up a gear on Thursday as they made their way to 22 Old Queen Street for some chilled champagne at The Spectator summer party.

After a difficult few months which saw Theresa May lose her majority in Parliament, the Prime Minister found time to unwind at the annual bash. However, with David Davis – the man tipped as her successor – also in attendance (and on the look out for someone to fill his SpAd vacancy), party talk soon turned to the eventual leadership contest. Davis’s fellow leadership contenders Boris Johnson and Amber Rudd also made sure to show up. Happily for the Foreign Secretary, the back stabbing against him (detailed in this week’s cover story) was kept to precisely that and he was welcomed warmly by his colleagues.

Here are selection of photos (taken by Alan Davidson and Anne Schwarz) from the event:

Andrew Marr and Theresa May

David Davis and James Forsyth

Theresa May and Andrew Neil

Fraser Nelson and Boris Johnson

Amber Rudd

Rod Liddle

Laura Kuennssberg

Michael Heath

Ayesha Hazarika

John Whittingdale, Andrew Mitchell and Andrew Roberts

Fraser Nelson and Theresa May

Tristram Hunt

Jo Johnson and Andrew Adonis

Boris Johnson and Rachel Johnson

Flora Rose, Tim Smith and Katy Balls

Martin Vander Weyer and Colleen Graffy

Kay Burley

Emily Maitlis

Andrew Marr

Liz Truss

Emma Boon

Gareth Kime, David Starkey and David Butterfield

Petronella Wyatt

Taki

Cosmo Landesman

Stephen Pitt and Rebecca Mukasa

Douglas Murray

Lara Prendergast

Kemi Badenoch and Graham Brady

Carrie Symonds and Lucy Aitkens

Sam Leith and Daisy Dunn

Chris Hope, Harry de Quetteville, Ruth Porter and Mark Mason