Johnson Gets 'Update' on Sue Gray's Report on Claimed No 10 Lockdown Parties
12:02 GMT 31.01.2022 (Updated: 15:18 GMT 28.05.2023)
© REUTERS / POOL / British PM Boris Johnson visits Tilbury Docks in Tilbury
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Downing Street staff are alleged to have enjoyed wine and cheese in their offices and the Number 10 garden during the pandemic, when emergency laws severely limited socialising and family gatherings, banned hospital visits to sick relatives, and forced pubs and restaurants to close.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received a summary of the overdue report into alleged partying at Downing Street during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Civil servant Sue Gray delivered an "update" on her eagerly-awaited "Partygate" probe on Monday morning, more than a week after it was expected to be published.
"We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the prime minister", said a spokesman for the Cabinet Office.
Johnson was set to make a statement on the report to the House of Commons at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, while officials reportedly said the report would be published at some time in the afternoon.
Boris Johnson statement at 3.30pm in Commons.
— Gareth Davies (@GD10) January 31, 2022
Downing Street said it will publish Sue Gray’s report at some stage this afternoon in the full form it has received from the inquiry team.
No commitment to publish a fuller version in future IE after the Met Police inquiry is over.
"You're going to have to wait and see the outcome of the investigations", Johnson told reporters earlier when asked if he had broken his own rules. "But of course I stick absolutely to what I said in the past".
But anonymous sources were already briefing journalists that the document had been purged of the most important details — and that the full report might never see the light of day.
Source: “it’s an absolute mess - everything interesting has been removed”.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) January 31, 2022
Breaking:
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) January 31, 2022
Number 10 refuses to commit to publishing Gray's report in full once the police inquiry is complete
They say they'll review it
PM spoke briefly to Gray yesterday
There's a world in which this 'update' is all we will get
31 January 2022, 05:52 GMT
Accusations flew last week that evidence of wrongdoing was being suppressed after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick announced an investigation into possible breaches of emergency laws by Downing Street staff — and asked Gray to minimise references to potential crimes.
The claims, leaked via the media in weekly installments for maximum political damage, are that Downing Street staff enjoyed wine and cheese in their offices and the Number 10 garden during the pandemic, when emergency laws severely limited socialising and family gatherings, banned hospital visits to sick relatives, and forced pubs and restaurants to close.
Leaving parties for staff were held — although reports of a disco in the basement with suitcases full of booze are yet to be confirmed — and Johnson presided via video link over a staff Christmas quiz in December 2020.
Opposition Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer — a former director of public prosecutions — had been demanding the report's publication over the past fortnight — while pre-empting its findings with demands for Johnson to resign.
But threats of a Tory backbench rebellion forcing a leadership election have receded since one of the plotters, Bury South MP Christian Wakeford, defected to the opposition benches two weeks ago after reportedly lengthy secret negotiations with Labour.
Johnson has already been trying to move on from the scandal by forging ahead with his post-Brexit policy agenda.
