Billi Allen-Mandeville
After much delay, Downing Street has publicly published Sue Gray’s full report into several lockdown parties held across No. 10 and Whitehall. Senior civil servant, Sue Gray, examined 16 events between May 2020 and April 2021.
In 2020, the UK was under lockdown and only allowed interaction between people indoors for essential work purposes. The general public was not allowed to attend the funerals of loved ones, women gave birth alone, hundreds of thousands of people died of Covid-19 and health and social care workers were fighting to get access to PPE.
“there continue to be suggestions that Boris Johnson knowingly lied and misled Parliament”
Following allegations of Covid-19 law-breaking made last year, No. 10 originally appointed senior civil servant, Simon Case, to investigate the gatherings that were held. Once it was discovered that a party was held in his office, he was replaced by Sue Gray.
Along with the regulation breaches, there continue to be suggestions that Boris Johnson knowingly lied and misled Parliament. This comes after Mr Johnson refuted any knowledge or attendance at illegal events in the House of Commons.
Delayed findings
Sue Gray’s report investigating alleged Downing Steert parties held in has been much anticipated after being delayed when the Metropolitan Police launched its own inquiries into 12 gatherings.
In January, a redacted report was published which indicated that there were “failures of leadership and judgement” by members of No. 10 and the Cabinet Office.
Gray’s report arrives just days after further leaked images showing Downing Street gatherings, including Boris Johnson raising a glass at a leaving party.
Wednesday’s @DailyMirror front page: Why did PM deny it? We knew parties broke rules. https://t.co/hkMlVZErko pic.twitter.com/LgOnhgqaRB
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) May 24, 2022
This week, the BBC also released Laura Kuenssberg’s investigation into the Partygate for Panorama. In the report, Downing Street insiders informed Kuenssberg that attendees sat on each other’s laps, were crowded together and mocked staff members attempting to stop the festivities.
Now the Met Police investigation has been completed, with 126 fines handed out to 83 staff members including the Prime Minister, the report has been published.
What does the report say?
Within the full report, along with several unseen images of parties, Gray provides several “limited findings”:
- Several gatherings “should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did”
- Not enough thought was given to “the appropriateness” of the gatherings, the risks to public health and how they would “appear to the public”.
- There were “failures of leadership and judgment” by No 10 and the Cabinet Office
- Some of the gatherings show “a serious failure” of the Government’s standards
- Behaviours at the gatherings “is difficult to justify”
On top of this, emails and WhatsApp messages included in the Gray Report reveal the questionable behaviour of some Downing Street staff at gatherings. The Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Martin Reynolds, stated, “We seem to have got away with” the garden party.
Response
At PMQ’s and a press conference earlier today, Boris Johnson apologised for his actions and said he was “humbled” by the findings. Reiterating previous statements, he argued that he had not misled Parliament. Now, Johnson said, he wants to move on from the report. In response, opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer said the report was “damning”.
In a YouGov poll, it was found that 74 per cent of the public feel Boris Johnson is untrustworthy and three quarters think he is a liar. Public trust in government is at an all-time low.
There are now fresh calls for the Prime Minister to resign. Whether a Vote of No Confidence will occur, we shall just have to wait and see.
Featured image courtesy of Alex Motoc via Unsplash. Image Licence can be found here.
Billi Allen-Mandeville
I am a recent Master of Public Policy Graduate, Advocate and blogger. I like to write current affairs and opinion pieces, especially those involving equality and inclusion news.
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