Sue Gray’s heavily-censored report into the partygate scandal has blasted “failures of leadership and judgment” in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office.
The report considered a total of 16 separate social events at 10 Downing Street and other government departments which took place while Covid regulations imposed strict limits on gatherings anywhere in the UK.
In a scathing comment on the culture at No 10 under Boris Johnson’s leadership, the Whitehall mandarin wrote: “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 long-awaited report was published by Downing Street at 2.30pm after being delivered to Boris Johnson at 11.20am on Monday. The prime minister was due to give his response and be grilled by MPs an hour later in a statement to the House of Commons.
After an eleventh-hour intervention by police, senior civil servant Ms Gray was required to strip the report of all but “minimal” references to alleged breaches of Covid regulations in parties and social gatherings in No 10 and Whitehall departments.
Ms Gray said that the police request had made it impossible for her to deliver a “meaningful report” on the full range of event which took place in No 10 during 2020 and 2021.
“I am extremely limited in what I can say about those events and it is 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.
She described her 12-page report as an “update” on her inquiries, suggesting that a fuller report may be published when the police investigation is concluded.
The report did not mention Mr Johnson by name and made direct criticism of individuals for what took place in No 10.
But it said: “There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times.”
And Ms Gray concluded: “A number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did.
“There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across government. This does not need to wait for the police investigations to be concluded. “
Ms Gray raised concerns about the ability of Downing Street staff to raise concerns about gatherings and breaches of social distancing rules over which they felt uneasy.
“Some staff wanted to raise concerns about behaviours they witnessed at work but at times felt unable to do so,” she said.
“No member of staff should feel unable to report or challenge poor conduct where they witness it. There should be easier waysfo r staff to raise such concerns informally, outside of the line management chain.”
