PARTY'S OVER
Sue Gray report reveals ‘failure of leadership’ over boozy No 10 lockdown parties
BORIS Johnson was rocked today as Sue Gray's Partygate probe tore into "failures of leadership and judgment" inside No10 during lockdown.
In a watered-down version of the Whitehall inquiry, the top civil servant said "too little thought" was often given to the public's hardship during the pandemic.
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Ms Gray also blasted the booze culture inside government and demanded changes in behaviour were made.
Her 12-page report concluded: "There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No10 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."
Humbled Mr Johnson today issued an apology in the Commons and vowed to change the way he works through a new Office of the Prime Minister.
He told MPs: "Firstly, I want to say sorry - and I'm sorry for the things we simply didn't get right and also sorry for the way this matter has been handled.
"It's no use saying this or that was within the rules and it's no use saying people were working hard. This pandemic was hard for everyone."
In major developments:
- Ms Gray revealed the Met were probing 12 out of the 16 gatherings
- Scotland Yard said they have been handed 300 pics and 500 pieces of paper
- Ms Gray revealed the cops were investigating a gathering in the PM's flat the night Dominic Cummings resigned
- Ms Gray said some staff felt too afraid to challenge the behaviour inside No10
- The PM reacted by vowing to shake-up his No10 operation
- Mr Johnson is set to rally Tory MPs at a meeting this evening
- Andrew Mitchell became the eighth Tory MP to publicly call for Mr Johnson to quit
- He will then avoid the fallout by jetting off to Ukraine tomorrow
DIRTY DOZEN
Crucial findings have been redacted from the report after Scotland Yard demanded Ms Gray leaves out anything that encroaches on their own inquiry.
Dame Cressida Dick took a wrecking ball to the civil service probe by launching her own police investigation into eight parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
In her report Ms Gray revealed the Met were investigating 12 out of the 16 gatherings that formed part of her probe.
Cops today revealed they have been handed a staggering 300 pics and 500 documents relating to the Partygate prone.
In the Commons the PM came under huge pressure across the House to release the fully-fledged Gray report in full once the Met probe had wrapped - but refused to do so.
The Met probe means references to these 12 gatherings were effectively off-limits for the final version of her pared-back report.
They include the "bring your own booze bash" in the Downing St garden, and two No10 parties on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral.
But worryingly for Mr Johnson it also includes a gathering in the No10 flat on November 13, the night Dominic Cummings left.
Despite press reports of attendees belting out ABBA, the PM has previously suggested in the Commons that a party did not take place, while Carrie Johnson's spokesperson has categorically denied it.
That the police are investigating the gathering suggests they have found evidence of law-breaking.
DRESSING DOWN
Although holding back from implying criminality, Ms Gray accused Downing St staff of not following the rules they were inflicting on the nation.
She said: "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."
The Whitehall tough-nut added that at times "too little thought" was given to the suffering of the public.
She also lashed out at the "excessive consumption of alcohol" following reports No10 staff wheeled in a suitcase rammed with wine bottles.
SUE GRAY REPORT - KEY DATES
THE Metropolitan Police are probing 12 out of the 16 Downing Street events identified in Sue Gray's report into parties at No 10.
May 15, 2020 - Downing Street garden party*
May 20, 2020 - No 10 staff party in the garden
June 18, 2020 - Cabinet Office gathering for private secretary's leaving do
June 19, 2020 - PM's birthday party in Cabinet room
November 13, 2020 - Gathering in the No 10 flat
November 13, 2020 - Special adviser's leaving party organised by Carrie Johnson
November 27, 2020 - Gathering in No 10 for the departure of another special adviser*
December 10, 2020 - Department for Education Christmas party*
December 15, 2020 - Downing Street online Christmas quiz*
December 17, 2020 - 70 Whitehall online Christmas quiz for Cabinet Secretary's private office
December 17, 2020 - Cabinet Office for departure of a senior official
December 17, 2020 - Leaving do for a No 10 official
December 18, 2020 - Downing Street Christmas party
January 14, 2021 - Leaving party for two No 10 private secretaries
April 16, 2021 - Gathering for the departure of a senior No 10 official
April 16, 2021 - Leaving party of another No 10 official
*Police are no longer investigating
And - as a result of the dual residence-workplace nature of Downing St - she said the lines between work and play sometimes became blurred.
Downing Street has not committed to publish the full findings of the Gray report even once the cops finish, meaning they may never see the light of day.
Mr Johnson and senior Downing St staff have been interviewed as part of the process.
The PM has for weeks been urging rebellious Tory MPs to wait for the Gray report before submitting letters of no confidence in his leadership.
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He has insisted the findings would exonerate him from any lockdown-rule breaking and "draw a line" under the saga.
But it remains to be seen if the watered-down report is enough to bring would-be mutineers back from the ledge - or whether they'll hold judgement until the Met probe concludes.
Ex-Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell today became the eighth Tory MP to publicly call for Mr Johnson to resign.
Former PM Theresa May also twisted the knife into her successor in the Commons.
To placate wavering Tory MPs, the PM vowed to tighten the code of conduct for No10 staff and create an Office of the Prime Minister.
Publication of the Gray report had been expected to trigger a further cascade of letters, but temperatures now appear to have cooled.
Mr Johnson's loyalists has been shoring up support with wavering MPs, while the PM has been meeting some personally in his office.
In a fiery Commons clash Sir Keir Starmer fumed: "By routinely breaking the rules he set, the Prime Minister took us all for fools.
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"He held people’s sacrifice in contempt. He showed himself unfit for office."
The PM shot back that Sir Keir was a former director of public prosecutions "who spent more time prosecuting journalists and failed to prosecute Jimmy Saville."
Boris Johnson vows to change after Sue Gray report - his pledges in full
BORIS Johnson vows to change in the Commons. His pledges in full:
"That is why we are making changes now to the way Downing Street and the Cabinet Office run so that we can get on with the job, the job that I was elected to do and that this government was elected to do.
"First, it is time to sort out what Sue Gray rightly calls the “fragmented and complicated” leadership structures of Downing Street which she says have not evolved sufficiently to meet the demands of the expansion of Number ten.
"And we will do that, including by creating an Office of the Prime Minister, with a Permanent Secretary to lead Number ten.
"Second, Mr Speaker, it is clear from Sue Gray’s report that it is time not just to review the Civil Service and Special Adviser codes of conduct wherever necessary to ensure they take account of Sue Gray’s recommendations but also to make sure those codes are properly enforced.
"And third, I will be saying more in the coming days about the steps we will take to improve the Number ten operation and the work of the Cabinet Office to strengthen Cabinet Government and to improve the vital connection between Number ten and parliament.
"Mr Speaker, I get it and I will fix it. And I want to say to the people of this country.
"I know what the issue is, it is whether this government can be trusted to deliver and I say yes we can be trusted yes we can be trusted to deliver."
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Boris Johnson insists he's 'sticking to his guns' when grilled on concerns the Sue Gray report will prove to be a whitewash
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