Boris Johnson has criticised a partygate probe by MPs as he claimed it was “relying” on evidence from Sue Gray’s original report despite the fact she is set to become Sir Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff.
The former prime minister said he believed it was “surreal” that the senior civil servant’s report was playing any role in the Privileges Committees’ investigation given she is due to work for the Labour leader.
He made the comments after the committee published a “next steps” report ahead of Mr Johnson giving evidence in public later this month in which it stated: “The evidence strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings.”
Mr Johnson said in a statement that “it is surreal to discover that the committee proposes to rely on evidence culled and orchestrated by Sue Gray, who has just been appointed chief of staff to the Leader of the Labour Party”.
He said: "This is particularly concerning given that the Committee says it is proposing to rely on ‘the findings in the Second Permanent Secretary’s report’ as ‘relevant facts which the Committee will take into account’. I leave it to others to decide how much confidence may now be placed in her inquiry and in the reports that she produced."
The Privileges Committee rebuffed the criticism and said its report is “not based on the Sue Gray report” but rather material supplied by the Government and from witnesses who attended lockdown-busting gatherings.
The committee has been tasked with investigating whether Mr Johnson misled MPs as prime minister when he denied Covid rules were broken at social gatherings in Downing Street.
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