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Evening Standard

World

Rachael Burford

Sue Gray report: the key points and what they mean for Boris Johnson

Sue Gray Boris Johnson Cabinet Office (Organization) No 10 Downing No 10 Downing Street Carrie Johnson Downing Street

Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street for the House of Commons
(Picture: PA Wire)

Sue Gray’s much awaited report into lockdown parties in Downing Street was finally released on Monday - in a heavily redacted form.

The senior civil servant stripped back details of her findings following a Metropolitan Police request last week.

Ms Gray’s report is just nine pages long and scarce in detail about the boozy bashes in Number 10 and across Whitehall which took place when Covid restrictions were in place.

It outlines 16 events, 12 of which are being probed by Scotland Yard.

Here are the key points...

Events involving the Prime Minister are being probed by police

At least two events Boris Johnson was present at are being investigated by the Met.

A party is being probed where up to 30 staff gathered for the Prime Minister’s birthday on June 19 2020. It is alleged they sang “Happy Birthday” and served cake when social gatherings indoors were banned.

No 10 has said staff had "gathered briefly" to "wish the Prime Minister a happy birthday", adding he was there "for less than 10 minutes".

Northern Ireland minister Conor Burns claimed Mr Johnson was “ambushed” with a cake.

A garden party in the Downing Street garden during the first national lockdown is also being investigated by police.

An email, sent by the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary Martin Reynolds, invited more than 100 employees to a BYOB (bring your own booze) bash.

Mr Johnson admitted he had attended for 25 minutes to thank staff but thought it was a “work event”.

A ‘Winner Takes It All’ Abba party allegedly held in the No10 flat by the PM’s wife Carrie Johnson on November 13, 2020 is also under investigation by detectives.

The event was reportedly held to mark the departure of the Prime Minister’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.

Mr Johnson has refused to say whether he was present or not.

Senior civil servant Sue Gray identified 16 separate gatherings in her report (PA Media)

The findings are “extremely limited” because of the police investigation

The report makes clear that following the Met’s request not to publish details of events Scotland Yard were investigating, Ms Gray was “extremely limited” in what she could say.

“It’s not possible at present to provide a meaningful report setting out and analysing the extensive factual information I have been able to gather,” she said.

Ms Gray’s team interviewed more than 70 people and examined emails, Whatsapp messages, text messages, photographs and building entry and exit logs during the investigation.

However, she has decided not to publish accounts of the events or witness statements.

Met Police commander Catherine Roper, who is leading the investigation into the ‘partygate’ scandal, has revealed detectives were handed more than 300 photographs and 500 pages of evidence from the Cabinet Office.

There were “failures of leadership and judgment” in the Cabinet Office and No10

Ms Gray found there were “failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times”.

Some events “should not have been allowed to take place” at all, while others “should not have been allowed to develop as they did”, the report found.

It stated: “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.”

In her conclusion, Ms Grey found there is “significant learning to be drawn” from the events which must be “addressed immediately across Government”.

The report stated: “This does not need to wait for the police investigations to be concluded.”

Sue Gray has identified two events which have not been reported before

Previously unreported gatherings in the Cabinet Office on June 2020 and a leaving party in No10 for two private secretaries in January 14 2021 are being investigated by police.