Boris Johnson stands accused of insulting the memories of 127,000 people who've died of coronavirus in the UK.
The PM was accused of blasting "no more ****ing lockdowns - let the bodies pile high in their thousands!" after reluctantly agreeing to a second lockdown in October.
The Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group said: "These ‘bodies’ were our loved ones. These callous comments will have caused untold hurt to hundreds of thousands of us across the whole of the country."
The Prime Minister, his official spokesman and his Cabinet allies all denied yesterday that he made the comments - with a No10 spokesman branding the original report in the Daily Mail a "lie".
Yet multiple anonymous sources have since come forward to outlets including ITV and the BBC claiming the PM did make the remarks.
No10 have meanwhile failed to deny separate reports he wanted to "let Covid rip", saying only that that particular claim is a "distortion".
So, who to believe? While ultimately you could have to make up your own mind, here's a rundown of what we know about how that extraordinary night unfolded.
When and where did the alleged outburst happen?
The PM is said to have made the comments on October 30, 2020 - the day he finally agreed to impose a month-long second lockdown in England.
According to reports, his outburst came after a meeting with Cabinet ministers Rishi Sunak, Michael Gove and Matt Hancock, chief advisor Dominic Cummings and scientific advisors Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance.
Cabinet Office minister Mr Gove confirmed: "I was in the meeting that afternoon, with the Prime Minister and other Ministers, as we looked at what was happening with the virus and with the pandemic.
"We were dealing with one of the most serious decisions that this Prime Minister and any Government have had to face. People have been pointing out, quite rightly, that tens of thousands of people were dying.
"The Prime Minister made a decision in that meeting to trigger a second lockdown."
Mr Gove insisted he did not hear Boris Johnson say the words. But reports suggest he only made the comments afterwards.
ITV's Robert Peston blogged: "I am told he shouted it in his study just after he agreed to the second lockdown 'in a rage'.
"The doors to the Cabinet room and outer office were allegedly open and supposedly a number of people heard."
What was the context?
The Prime Minister knew he would be politically wounded after he spent weeks attacking Keir Starmer for calling for a circuit-breaker lockdown.
His top aides even told the press Sir Keir was a "shameless opportunist playing political games" for backing a short shutdown, something urged in September by the government's own SAGE advisors.
Now, faced with rising case numbers, the Prime Minister was having to mount a screeching U-turn and back a lockdown after all.
He is said to have only given in after Michael Gove gave a speech demanding a lockdown - and 'hawk' Rishi Sunak sided with him.
It was a fatal blow for the regional tiers system, which created confusion, "haves" and "have-nots" across areas of England.
Worse, he feared what would happen to the economy. The PM had been planning to end the furlough scheme two days later and restart big events after six months of shutdowns. Clearly that wasn't going to work.
So whatever he did say, his comments would have expressed the frustration at being humiliated into action. The Telegraph reports he was in a "foul" mood that night.
And unbeknown to him, things would soon get worse. Around the same time, the so-called "chatty rat" leaker briefed the details of the coming full lockdown to The Times, which reported them that Friday night.
That announcement prevented the PM from changing his mind and forced him into an unplanned Saturday night press conference.
There was outrage and a leak inquiry, which six months later Boris Johnson has tried to pin on Cummings. But Cummings denies it, and the PM's own Cabinet Secretary admits there still isn't one firm suspect.
Who says Boris Johnson made the offensive comments?
At least three to four witnesses appear to have come forward to corroborate the claims, but they are all anonymous.
The Daily Mail - which has reported several leaks out of No10 - was the first newspaper to report the "bodies" remarks.
ITV's Robert Peston then claimed to have spoken to two separate "ear-witnesses" who had not spoken to the Daily Mail.
The BBC cited an unknown number of sources corroborating the account, and Politico and the Guardian also cited sources.
The exact words used appear to have been in slight dispute, with one insider telling the Guardian they'd heard he said "no more f****** lockdowns … no matter the consequences”. The BBC had also suggested he used the word "could" before "pile high".
Who says he didn't?
Boris Johnson, Cabinet allies who are taking his word for it, and his taxpayer-funded spokespeople who called it a "lie".
The PM's official spokesman said the reported comments were false adding: "This is untrue and the PM has denied it."
Asked if he'd made the remarks, the PM told journalists: "No".
Michael Gove was less than whole-hearted, saying: "This is a prime minister who’s been in a hospital himself in intensive care. The idea that he would say any such thing, I find incredible. I was in that room. I never heard language of that kind."
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey today also passed the buck to Mr Johnson, saying: "The Prime Minister says he didn’t say them… so I take the Prime Minister at his word."
Asked why so many anonymous sources were contradicting what the Prime Minister said, she told the BBC: "I don't know the motivation of people, who they are."
Who's telling the truth?
Ultimately we don't know.
On the one hand, the PM has on-the-record defences and his accusers are anonymous so less accountable.
On the other hand, Mr Johnson has previously been known to make false statements repeatedly in Parliament.
He also has made crass comments before. In 2017 he said a war-ravaged Libyan city could be "the next Dubai - the only thing they've got to do is clear the dead bodies away and then we'll be there."
He was also accused of calling the UK's ventilator challenge 'operation last gasp' behind the scenes last year.
ITV's Political Editor Robert Peston said two sources who told him about the "bodies" comment would be willing to confirm it on oath. Asked if Boris Johnson would do the same, his spokesman replied: "That’s very much in the realms of extreme hypothetical."
