Sue Gray’s long-awaited Partygate report is FINALLY published
‘Sorry, but…’: Brazen Boris boasts about Brexit as he tries to shrug off Sue Gray’s revelations that police are probing twelve No10 parties including FOUR ‘he attended’ and puts Carrie in frame – but PM is lashed by furious Theresa May and Tories
Boris Johnson still facing Tory unrest after allegations of lockdown-busting parties in Downing StreetTop civil servant Sue Gray has delivered report into claims of rule breaches, but made clear watered downThe report was published before PM makes statement to MPs at 3.30pm, amid fears aides will have to quit Tory temperature seems to have cooled and police ordered report to be watered down pending probe Ex-No10 official Nikka da Costa said Mr Johnson stopped plans to allow bereaved families to ‘bubble’
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Boris Johnson was openly lashed by senior Tories today as he delivered a half-hearted apology after the Sue Gray report was finally published condemning ‘failures of leadership and judgment’ in Downing Street.
After the top civil servant revealed police are now investigating twelve bashes as potentially criminal – including four allegedly attended by the PM and some involving wife Carrie – he admitted that asking people to make ‘sacrifices’ in lockdown, and said he understood their ‘anger’.
‘I get it and I will fix it,’ he said.
But he said he was now making changes to ‘get on with the job I was elected to do’, hinting at a clearout of top aides and announcing the creation of an Office of the Prime Minister to support him.
Mr Johnson bullishly insisted that he was ‘delivering’ on issues such as Brexit and levelling up, saying that was what the public ‘want us to focus on’ instead of ‘talking about ourselves’.
Keir Starmer shot back that it is now clear Mr Johnson himself is under criminal investigation, branding him a ‘man with no shame’.
In a brutal intervention, Theresa May also said Mr Johnson either ‘didn’t read the rules’ or thought they ‘didn’t apply’ to No10. ‘Which is it?’ she demanded.
Former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell attacked the premier in the chamber saying he was ‘deeply concerned’ about some of the things the PM had said at the despatch box.
‘I have to tell him he no longer enjoys my support,’ he said.
The police cases include a gathering in the Cabinet Room for Mr Johnson’s 56th birthday in June 2020, and what has been described as a ‘victory party’ with Abba songs in the No11 flat after Dominic Cummings was ousted in November that year following a power struggle with Carrie.
A ‘bring your own booze’ party allegedly organised by Mr Johnson’s private secretary Martin Reynolds is also being looked at by Scotland Yard, as well as a raucous leaving do for senior aides on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral.
And Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has been dragged into the furore as a drinks event in his office is also under the police microscope. He has insisted he did not attend.
Mr Johnson is said to have been at his own birthday celebration, BYOB gathering, and two leaving dos for senior aides where he gave speeches.
In the document – which runs to just six pages plus annexes – Ms Gray said she is ‘extremely limited’ in what she could publish due to police requesting ‘minimal reference’ to incidents they are investigating.
And she made clear that she wants to release more information once Scotland Yard has completed its work – something No10 has so far refused to commit to.
Mr Johnson published the watered down ‘as received’ barely an hour before he makes a Commons statement at 3.30pm. He will then address a meeting of the Conservative parliamentary party in Downing Street at 6.30pm.
Opposition MPs immediately demanded the premier’s resignation, saying he ‘broke the rules and lied to the country’.
The Gray report warns that ‘excessive consumption of alcohol’ is not appropriate at the heart of government.
Her brutal conclusions state: ‘Against the backdrop of the pandemic, when the Government was asking citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify.
‘At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time.
‘At times it seems there was too little thought given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings, the risks they presented to public health and how they might appear to the public.
‘There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times. Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.
She added: ‘The excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time. Steps must be taken to ensure that every Government Department has a clear and robust policy in place covering the consumption of alcohol in the workplace.’
The report was worse than many MPs had expected, with rumours swirling at Westminster that key aides will have to fall on their swords.
Mr Johnson was previously said to feel ‘reassured’ that the threat of a successful coup against him by Tory backbenchers has receded.
But the crisis over Ukraine could overshadow the Partygate saga, with the premier visiting the country tomorrow and demanding Vladimir Putin steps back from the brink of invasion.
He has been assisted by fledgling signs of a recovery in the polls – although the Conservatives are still trailing Labour.
It has emerged that police are likely to hand out any fixed penalty notices to lockdown breachers without making their names public – an approach that could limit embarrassment.
In other developments during more political chaos in Westminster:
Mr Johnson is expected to visit Ukraine tomorrow amid desperate efforts to defuse the standoff with Russia over Ukraine; New government sanctions are being unveiled that could target oligarchs linked to Vladimir Putin; Former Cabinet minister Lord Frost has dismissed suggestions he could become the PM’s new chief of staff in a ‘reset’ after the Partygate report, saying he does not agree with the national insurance hike; Dominic Cummings has stepped up his attack on Mr Johnson branding him a ‘babbling f***wit’ and saying getting him out of No10 is like ‘fixing the drains’.
Boris Johnson said ‘sorry’ in the Commons today after being hit with damning revelations in the Sue Gray report
The top civil servant’s findings (right) have been released disclosing that police are now investigating eight bashed as potentially criminal lockdown breaches. They include a gathering in the Cabinet Room for Mr Johnson’s 56th birthday in June 2020, said to have been organised by wife Carrie (left)
Sue Gray has finally delivered her findings on Partygate to the PM – but made clear she wants to release more information after the police probe completes
A protest outside Downing Street in advance of the Partygate report, which was released today
Rising to respond to Mr Johnson’s statement, Mrs May said: ‘The Covid regulations imposed significant restrictions on the freedoms of members of the public. They had a right to expect their Prime Minister to have read the rules, to understand the meaning of the rules and indeed those around him to have done so too and to set an example in following those rules.
‘What the Gray report does show is that Number 10 Downing Street was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public, so either my right honourable friend had not read the rules or didn’t understand what they meant and others around him, or they didn’t think the rules applied to Number 10. Which was it?’
Mr Johnson replied: ‘No, Mr Speaker that is not what the Gray report says, I suggest that she waits to see the conclusion of the inquiry.’
Soon afterwards Mr Mitchell waded in, saying: ‘Does he recall that ever since he joined the party’s candidates list 30 years ago until we got him into Number 10 he has enjoyed my full-throated support?
‘But I am deeply concerned by these events and very concerned indeed by some of the things he has said from that despatch box and has said to the British public and our constituents.
‘When he kindly invited me to see him 10 days ago, I told him that I thought he should think very carefully about what was now in the best interests of our country and of the Conservative Party, and I have to tell him he no longer enjoys my support.’
The Prime Minister replied: ‘I must tell him respectfully, my right honourable friend, great though the admiration is that I have of him, I simply think that he is mistaken in his views and urge him to reconsider upon full consideration of the inquiry.’
Ms Gray’s report said: ‘The use of the garden at No 10 Downing Street should be primarily for the Prime Minister and the private residents of No 10 and No 11 Downing Street.
‘During the pandemic it was often used as an extension of the workplace as a more covid secure means of holding group meetings in a ventilated space.
‘This was a sensible measure that staff appreciated, but the garden was also used for gatherings without clear authorisation or oversight.
‘This was not appropriate. Any official access to the space, including for meetings, should be by invitation only and in a controlled environment.’
Three new gatherings not previously revealed were included in Sue Gray’s investigations.
These were a gathering in the Cabinet Office on June 18, 2020, to mark the leaving of a No 10 private secretary, a third gathering on December 17, 2020 – on top of two already reported – to mark the departure of a No 10 official in Downing Street, and a new event on January 14, 2021, also in No 10, when two private secretaries left.
Two previously reported gatherings were not included in her inquiry.
These were drinks held at the Treasury on November 25, 2020 and drinks at the Department for Transport on December 16, 2020.
On the Treasury drinks, a spokesman said at the time: ‘We have been made aware that a small number of those staff had impromptu drinks around their desks after the event.’
A DfT spokesperson said: ‘Fewer than a dozen staff who were working in the office had a low-key, socially distanced gathering in the large open-plan office after work on December 16, where food and drink was consumed.
‘We recognise this was inappropriate and apologise for the error of judgment.’
Downing Street has not committed to publishing a fuller version of the report in the future.
Asked why the release has so far been characterised as an ‘update’, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘It’s a reflection of the fact there is an ongoing police investigation and the Met have been clear about what their expectations are about what can or cannot be put in the public domain while that’s ongoing.’
Asked whether Ms Gray will seek to publish more in the future, he said: ‘Obviously we will need to consider what might be appropriate and we are discussing with the Cabinet Office team in due course about what might be appropriate, but at the moment it is unclear how the ongoing Met Police investigation might interact with any further work on that. But obviously it’s something we will want to keep under review.’
Pressed on whether the public will see a fuller report after the Met investigation, the spokesman said: ‘That’s one of the things I can’t confirm at this point simply because we need to discuss that with the Met and others about what is suitable.’
Before the publication, Will Walden, who advised Mr Johnson during his time as London mayor, said Mr Johnson had ‘used up quite a lot of lives’ on Partygate but the report had ‘landed pretty well for him’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One programme: ‘It’s a mess. It’s probably bad for democracy but inadvertently good for the PM.
‘He’s used up quite a lot of lives over this but I think it’s landed pretty well for him.
‘I think he has the benefit of seeing what appears to be a heavily redacted report, he doesn’t have long to respond but he’s responding to frankly what is going to be not a lot. And I suspect that can only help him.’
Nikka da Costa, Mr Johnson’s former director of legislative affairs, voiced disbelief at No10 refusing to confirm that Ms Gray’s full report will be published at a later date.
She predicted that if Downing Street tried to block the release Labour would call an Opposition Day debate.
‘Then MPs will be whipped to oppose? And how will that be portrayed publicly? What is the strategy behind this line?’ she tweeted.
Ms da Costa wrote in The Times overnight that the PM had shot down plans to allow bereaved families to set up bubbles with their close relatives when last year’s lockdown restrictions began to ease over fears it would ‘send the wrong message to the public’.
Costa said the veto came just weeks before Downing Street staff held two booze-filled leaving parties on the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
The former No10 official said she was ‘angry’ when she hears allies of Mr Johnson to ‘get a sense of proportion’ in response to allegations of No10 parties.
‘If we in No 10 could be that hard-hearted because we thought it was the right thing to do, then those involved in those kinds of decisions also owed it to the country to be as hard on themselves and their own conduct,’ Costa wrote.
She added: ‘If No 10 failed in that as a collective, as it seems clear, it needs to be recognised as a failure of and by those at the top.’
The Mail on Sunday revealed that as part of her inquiry into socialising in Mr Johnson‘s No 10 flat, Ms Gray has been told about a ‘victory party’ held by friends of Carrie.
The bash allegedly happened on the night of November 13, 2020, after Dominic Cummings had left with his belongings in a box.
He had allegedly lost a power struggle with the then Ms Symonds and other advisers.
‘There was the sound of lots of banging and dancing and drinking, and a number of Abba tracks – including a triumphalist Winner Takes It All,’ a source said.
A spokesman for Mrs Johnson said: ‘It is totally untrue to suggest Mrs Johnson held a party in the Downing Street flat on November 13, 2020.’
Ministers including Tory chairman Oliver Dowden were seen going in and out of Downing Street today as tension rose
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps (left) and Environment Secretary George Eustice were also in No10 amid signs of frantic activity behind the scenes
Nikka da Costa, Mr Johnson’s former director of legislative affairs, voiced disbelief at No10 refusing to confirm that Ms Gray’s full report will be published at a later date
There are fledgling signs of a Tory recovery in the polls – although the Conservatives are still trailing Labour
In the latest twist of the lockdown party drama enveloping Westminster, it emerged that Miss Gray’s probe has been told about alleged messages from Carrie Johnson offering to organise a cake for the PM’s 56th birthday party in June 2020
Mr Johnson arriving back at Downing Street yesterday after spending the weekend at his Chequers residence
The Metropolitan Police could now investigate the party as part of its probe, and call on Mrs Johnson to provide written evidence.
Meanwhile, it has been claimed that a tipsy Downing Street staffer boasted to police that they ‘we’re the only ones allowed to party’ as they left one gathering.
A witness is claimed to have reported the jibe to Ms Gray’s inquiry, according to the Sun.
Last week the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick announced officers have launched a criminal inquiry after assessing a dossier of evidence compiled by Ms Gray.
The police inquiry is expected to focus on eight of the parties looked at by Ms Gray.
But the force has clarified it is looking at potential Covid breaches that are dealt with by fixed-term penalty notices.
The Times highlighted that staff are unlikely to be publicly identified if they accept a penalty notice and do not contest the breach in court.
Under police guidance, individuals are only named if they are charged and expected to appear in court.
Scotland Yard admitted last week it had asked Whitehall’s ethics tsar to ‘water down’ her document while the force conducts a criminal probe that may not conclude for months.
The highly controversial move has seen Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick accused of ‘an abuse of power’ by ‘interfering’ with the investigation and demanding that Miss Gray remove key details which are central to the row over ‘parties’ in No10.
It is understood that the senior civil servant will give Mr Johnson a redacted version of her report, rather than wait for the Met’s inquiry to end.
But Conservative MPs are now urging Ms Gray to make her report available to the public in full, in a bid to ‘end this madness’.
Meanwhile, Labour called for Mr Johnson to finally ‘end the circus’ over partygate.
Shadow minister Lisa Nandy said: ‘There are a lot of bereaved families, there are a lot of people who made huge sacrifices who deserve to hear the truth from the Prime Minister.
‘If he won’t put an end to this circus then that report has to come out in full so that people can judge for themselves.’
Despite the apparent easing of the crisis for Mr Johnson, leadership jockeying is in full swing.
Tom Tugendhat has become the first Conservative MP to declare his intention to run in a leadership contest.
Asked in a Times Radio interview whether he would like to be Prime Minister, the Tonbridge & Malling MP said: ‘It would be a huge privilege.’
He added: ‘It’s up to all of us to put ourselves forward. And it’s up to the electorate, in the first case parliamentary colleagues, and in the second case the party, to choose.’
The former soldier added: ‘There isn’t a vacancy at the moment’, and insisted he had not been canvassing support.
Jeremy Hunt, the former Foreign Secretary who came second to Mr Johnson in the 2019 leadership contest, recently said his ambition to be leader had not ‘completely vanished’.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are expected to be the frontrunners in a contest, with other potential contenders including Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, Home Secretary Priti Patel, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and former Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt.
Boris Johnson will visit Ukraine TOMORROW in show of support for nation as he urges Vladimir Putin to ‘step back from the brink’ of invasion
Boris Johnson will visit Ukraine tomorrow in a show of support for the country – after warning Vladimir Putin to ‘step back from the brink’ of invasion.
Downing Street confirmed that the Prime Minister would sidestep the fallout from the Sue Gray Partygate report by travelling to Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.
That journey, made with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, will take place after an expected phone call with Putin today, as tens of thousands of Russian troops maintain their position close to the Ukraine border.
Fears of an imminent Russian incursion in Ukraine have grown in recent days, despite denials from Moscow and pleas from Zelensky to avoid stirring ‘panic’ over the military build-up on the border.
Mr Johnson said today he will reiterate that an invasion would be ‘bitterly and bloodily resisted’ by Kiev’s forces – as well as having major repercussions internationally.
Speaking to reporters in Essex this morning, Mr Johnson said: ‘What I will say to President Putin, as I have said before, is that I think we really all need to step back from the brink.
‘I think Russia needs to step back from the brink. I think that an invasion of Ukraine, any incursion into Ukraine beyond the territory that Russia has already taken in 2014 would be an absolute disaster for the world, and above all it would be a disaster for Russia.’
Boris Johnson will urge Vladimir Putin to ‘step back from the brink’ in Ukraine today as he prepares to visit the region
Ukrainian civilians train to resist a Russian invasion over the weekend
Nato powers have been urging Mr Putin (pictured last week) to step back from confrontation
As well as visiting Ukraine, the Foreign Secretary will head on to Moscow for talks.
Diplomatic efforts are ramping up as Putin-backing oligarchs were warned there will be ‘nowhere to hide’ from new UK sanctions.
The Foreign Office is set to announce details of enhanced measures that could be used against ‘strategic interests’ of the Russian state.
Targets could include financial institutions and energy firms as well as Mr Putin’s wealthy supporters.
Meanwhile, former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers has insisted Russia can be deterred from pushing ahead with an invasion if the West makes clear there will be ‘costs’.
