Markus Andrews

International media outlets have waded into the Partygate scandal that has hit the British headlines after the publication of an independent report into the illegal Downing Street parties.Prime minister Boris Johnson has been called on to resign after senior civil servant Sue Gray’s report laid bare the extent of the socialising during coronavirus lockdown, which was outlawed by the government itself.The vast majority of British media has focused on the hypocrisy, while a few right-leaning British newspapers have tried to downplay the scandal.This is how media around the world has reported on this story: Australia: ‘British public sick and tired of weasel words from leaders’The Sydney Morning Herald focuses on the absurdity of the 16 gatherings hosted by the officials that have been responsible for running the country and making the law.One of two articles published by the newspaper starts with: “Drunken gatherings, fisticuffs, vomiting, and red wine stains left on the walls. This was life inside Downing Street when the rest of Britain was under strict stay-at-home orders.“Things were so warped that even the senior figure responsible for ethics and propriety provided a karaoke machine for a party.”But, it points out, Mr Johnson may “survive” the scandal with “spin, distraction or indeed good political fortune” despite a YouGov poll suggesting that 59 per cent of people want him to resign.It goes on: “[The parties were] a deliberate attempt to flout and manipulate rules which had separated families from loved ones, forced them to see their grandparents die on FaceTime, miss the birth of grandchildren or attend zoom funerals of friends.“And that, ultimately, is what this scandal is all about. Whether the rules were extreme or misguided or an overreaction, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they were applied to some and not others. And that is the way it will be viewed by a grumpy public which is sick and tired of the weasel words from its leaders.”Canada: ‘Ukraine and inflation has shifted the public’s attention’The Globe and Mail reports Mr Johnson’s apology for the conduct of his staff at what the newspaper described as the “occasionally raucous” parties held at Downing Street and the Cabinet Office. Like the Sydney Morning Herald, it says the findings of the Sue Gray report are “unlikely to trigger any immediate threat to Mr Johnson’s leadership”, and that he has “largely weathered the storm”.The war in Ukraine and inflation reaching its highest in 30 years “have shifted public attention,” it adds.France: ‘Would lockdown violations be enough to revive anger among British people?’Le Monde acknowledges that, during lockdown, people had made “heavy sacrifices” – as required by law. The newspaper goes on to state that the 40-page Sue Gray report details the “overwhelming” violations during the parties, including drinking, “vomiting, altercations, music, departure through back doors in the early morning and sometimes disrespect for security or maintenance agents.”The newspaper questions whether the report’s findings would be enough – “in absence of an election” – to “revive anger among the majority, or even demonstrate that the head of government lied to Parliament, which could precipitate his departure.”Spain: ‘PM and officials had violated the rules imposed on all citizens during the pandemic’News website El Espanol reported that Sue Gray discovered that there was an “altercation” between two people at one of the parties, drunkenness, and vomiting. It points out that those attending the parties were aware that they were doing something illegal because they were advised to “leave the building from the back”.The report says: “Since the scandal was uncovered, Johnson has faced criticism from opposition politicians and some in his own party to resign after it was revealed that both he and the officials had violated the rules imposed on all citizens because of the pandemic.”It ends with the line from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer: “There was a norm for them and a norm for everyone else.”US: ‘Sue Gray report does not look like fatal blow that many expected’A “scandal-scarred” PM has presided over a “disorderly workplace” where there had been “rampant violations” of coronavirus restrictions, the New York Times reports.Sue Gray’s findings were “studded” with accounts of “late-night, booze-fueled revelry” at Downing Street, it also said before going on to describe a scene of “scattered wine bottles, a thumping karaoke machine, a broken swing set, and senior officials who encouraged the socializing even as they privately fretted it could create a public relations problem.”But, like other media outlets, it pointed out that the published report “did not look like the fatal blow that many once warned it could be” even though Mr Johnson’s “political future has been hanging by a thread”. More

The British government was unveiling a package of help on Thursday to ease a severe cost-of-living squeeze, a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to “move on” from months of scandal over parties in government buildings during COVID-19 lockdowns.Treasury chief Rishi Sunak was due to outline new measures including a windfall tax on oil and gas firms’ bumper profits. The 10 billion-pound ($12.5 billion) package is also likely to include a rebate on energy bills for millions of people.A windfall tax would be a U-turn for the Conservative government, which has previously said such a levy would deter investment in the U.K.’s energy sector.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said a windfall tax would be “totally ridiculous” and would “raise prices for consumers.”But the government is under pressure to act as skyrocketing energy and food bills drive millions in Britain into financial hardship.U.K. inflation hit 9% in April, the highest level in 40 years, and millions of families saw their annual energy bills jump by 54% the same month. amounting to an extra 700 pounds ($863) a year on average for each household. Britain’s energy regulator said this week that domestic energy bills could shoot up again by another 800 pounds a year in the fall, as Russia’s war in Ukraine and rebounding demand after the pandemic push oil and natural gas prices higher.The economic announcement comes as Johnson’s government tries to turn a page after an investigator’s report slammed a culture of rule-breaking inside the prime minister’s No. 10 Downing St. office. Civil service investigator Sue Gray described alcohol-fueled bashes held by Downing Street staff in 2020 and 2021 when U.K. residents were barred from socializing, or even from visiting sick and dying relatives, because of coronavirus restrictions. She said the “senior leadership team” must bear responsibility for “failures of leadership and judgment.”The prime minister said he was “humbled” and took “full responsibility” — but insisted it was now time to “move on” and focus on Britain’s battered economy and the war in Ukraine.Johnson still faces an inquiry by a House of Commons standards committee over whether he lied to Parliament when he insisted no rules had been broken in Downing Street. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to resign.The “partygate” scandal leaves Conservative lawmakers in a quandary: try to topple their leader amid a war and financial crisis, or stick with a prime minister whose perceived willingness to flout rules he applies to others has caused public outrage.Under party rules, a no-confidence vote can be triggered if 15% of party lawmakers — currently 54 — write letters calling for one. If Johnson lost such a vote, he would be replaced as Conservative leader and prime minister. It’s unclear how many letters have been submitted so far, but the number is growing.Two more Tory legislators, John Baron and David Simmonds, called Thursday for Johnson to resign.Baron said Johnson’s previous claim “that there was no rule-breaking is simply not credible,” and therefore he had misled Parliament. More

Boris Johnson’s right-hand man has denied the prime minister is a liar and described him as a man of “honour”.But Labour’s Lisa Nandy said the PM was only “sorry that he got caught”, while the chair of the Commons standards committee Chris Bryant said that Mr Johnson’s response showed him to be “blind to his own failings”.No 10 chief of staff Stephen Barclay said the PM was not aware that a number of events he attended in Downing Street developed into drunken lockdown-breaching parties and was “shocked” to read the details in Sue Gray’s report on Wednesday.The report blasted a “failure of leadership” at No 10 as it set out how officials held “wine-time Friday” events at a time when Britons were ordered to stay at home and avoid social contact. It revealed how they drank until the early hours and listed incidents of revellers vomiting and fighting and being rude to security staff and cleaners who objected.Speaking to Sky News, Mr Barclay agreed it was “heartbreaking” that Britons were unable to say farewell to dying loved ones during lockdown.But he insisted that the situation was not comparable to the prime minister raising a toast to departing colleagues at leaving drinks events in No 10, as the people involved were already working in “tight-knit” groups on the Covid response.After Mr Johnson yesterday resisted calls to resign for misleading parliament, Mr Barclay was asked directly by interviewer Kay Burley: “Does the PM have honour?”He replied: “Yes, he does.”Burley followed up: “Does he tell lies?”Barclay replied: “No, he doesn’t.”Mr Barclay later said he expected Mr Johnson to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, telling LBC radio: “I believe he will.”The Cabinet Office minister said that the most shocking aspect of Ms Gray’s report was the abuse of security and cleaning staff by officials, and confirmed that Mr Johnson was this morning meeting cleaners in No 10 to offer a personal apology.Labour’s Lisa Nandy told BBC1’s Breakfast she was “horrified” by the picture painted by Ms Gray of behaviour in No 10 under Mr Johnson’s stewardship.“It makes very uncomfortable reading,” said the shadow levelling up secretary. “There were celebration parties, leaving parties, garden parties, staff being told to leave by the back door so they weren’t seen drunk. “There were fights,there were people being sick. All of this a culture that the prime minister presided over.“There’s a rot that runs right through all of this, but it’s quite clear from yesterday that the rot starts at the top and what we have is a prime minister who won’t take responsibility and Conservative MPs who largely – with a few exceptions – won’t do the right thing.”Ms Nandy later told BBC1’s Breakfast that Mr Johnson had tried to “pass off responsibility” onto junior members of staff at 10 Downing Street.“He hasn’t resigned, he’s apologised belatedly when he was caught,” she said. “He’s not sorry that he did it. He’s sorry that he was caught. “And meanwhile you have a lot of families around the country who feel utterly humiliated. They feel that they did the right thing and now they wonder heartbreakingly if they did the wrong thing by following the rules that he set, because he told us that we’re all in this together.”Mr Bryant said that the events described in Ms Gray’s report were “morally indefensible” and the prime minister was “blind to his own failings”.“He attended these events, he raised a glass at them, he knew they were happening,” Mr Bryant told Sky News. “This may sound like a very pedantic point, but the rules didn’t say anything about an exemption for work events, they simply said no gatherings were allowed and these were gatherings and he was at them, so he knew what happened.”Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper dismissed as “pathetic” Mr Barclay’s claims that Mr Johnson was unaware of parties in the building where he lives and works.”These pathetic excuses are an insult to the British people who sacrificed so much while Boris Johnson broke the rules,” said Ms Cooper.”It is inconceivable that the prime minister didn’t know what was happening under his nose, with rule-breaking parties organised by his own most senior staff.”If the prime minister was truly sorry and wanted to take full responsibility, he would resign. Conservative MPs should stop  defending the indefensible and finally force Boris Johnson to step down.” More

Three more Conservative MPs have withdrawn support from Boris Johnson in the wake of the Sue Gray report, with one saying his claim not to have misled parliament over No 10 parties was “simply not credible”.John Baron, David Simmonds and Angela Richardson brought the number of MPs speaking out against Johnson following Wednesday’s report to four, after York Outer MP Julian Sturdy said yesterday he should go. A total of 21 Conservative backbenchers are now publicly demanding his removal, but behind the scenes others have privately said he should step down.Basildon and Billericay MP Mr Baron said that the Gray report and the Metropolitan Police inquiry into lockdown-busting gatherings in Downing Street “paint a shameful pattern of misbehaviour during the pandemic as the rest of us kept to the Covid regulations”.Mr Baron said that the most serious charge against the PM was that he knowingly misled parliament when he insisted in December that no parties took place and social distancing rules were kept at all times.Mr Johnson yesterday told the House of Commons that he briefly attended a number of events to give farewell speeches to thank departing staff , but did not know that they later developed into drunken parties.But Mr Baron said: “Given the scale of rule-breaking in No 10, I can not accept that the Prime Minister was unaware. Therefore, his repeated assurances in Parliament that there was no rule-breaking is simply not credible.”Meanwhile, Mr Simmonds, whose north London seat of Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner neighbours Mr Johnson’s constituency, said: “It is clear that while the government and our policies enjoy the confidence of the public, the prime minister does not.“Accordingly, it is time for him to step down so that new leadership can take forward the important work of the government in ensuring that our people and country prosper.”In a post on Facebook, Guildford MP Angela Richardson said: “I am clear that had this been a report about my leadership, I would resign.”Ms Richardson said she feared that Mr Johnson’s apology in the Commons on Wednesday was “too little, too late”.And she added: “Trust has been broken and it saddens me that the culture in No 10 and the length of time the enquiry has taken has eroded trust in your political representatives. It reflects badly on all of us.“Sue Gray reflects many people’s view when she says: ‘The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility.’ I am clear that had this been a report about my leadership, I would resign.” More

Sunday Times Rich List: Rishi Sunak and wife join elite with £730m fortuneMillions of households will receive a £400 discount on their energy bills, and a £5bn tax will be levied on oil and gas giants as Rishi Sunak moved to counter the soaring cost of living.The chancellor was forced to unveil emergency measures as part of a £15bn package to tackle the impact of soaring inflation, which has reached a 40-year high.Measures include a £650 payment for 8 million of the worst-off households, a one-off £300 payment to 8 million pensioner households and £150 each to 6 million disabled people.The plans will be funded by around £10bn of extra borrowing, but Mr Sunak insisted he had a “responsible fiscal policy”.Mr Sunak also scrapped his £200 energy bills loan, replacing it instead with a £400 grant, available to all households. He said that tax breaks for innovation would ensure the windfall tax did not reduce investment in green power.Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said Mr Sunak’s announcement showed the Labour Party was “winning the battle of ideas”, adding: “This government’s dither and delay is costing the country dearly.”As he began his statement to MPs, Mr Sunak was heckled with shouts of “what took you so long” and “about time”.Show latest update

1653576601Sketch: The chancellor who’s having to be everything he’s notWhile he sees himself as an Ebeneezer Scrooge-style Tory, Rishi Sunak is in fact best understood as the Ocean Club Marbella Veuve Clicquot Champagne Spray Chancellor, says sketch-writer Tom Peck:Jane Dalton26 May 2022 15:501653575856Sunak’s support and what it means for your financesOur business correspondent Ben Chapman analyses what the measures will mean for readers’ finances:Jane Dalton26 May 2022 15:371653574929Shell ‘recognises burden of rising bills’A spokesman for oil giant Shell said: “We have consistently emphasised the importance of a stable environment for long-term investment.“This is fundamental to our aim to invest between £20billion and £25billion in the UK in the next decade, mostly in low- and zero-carbon products and services, with a significant amount also focused on ensuring security of energy supply for the UK.“The Chancellor’s proposed tax relief on investments in Britain’s energy future is a critical principle in the new levy.“We recognise the burden that increased energy prices have across society, in particular on the vulnerable, and have hardship plans in place to help our customers.”Jane Dalton26 May 2022 15:221653574721How to get the new £650 energy bill grantAmont the chancellor’s new measures is a one-off payment of £650 for 8 million families on benefits to ease the pressure of rising energy bills.The sum will be applied to those on Universal Credit, Tax Credits, Pension Credit, and legacy benefits from July. Zaina Alibhai explains that those eligible should receive it automatically:Jane Dalton26 May 2022 15:181653574337Businesses and unions condemn Sunak’s stepsBusinesses and unions have attacked the chancellor’s announcements for different reasons.Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s chief economist, said helping people facing real hardship amid one of the worst cost-of-living crunches in recent memory was the right thing to do.But she added: “Despite the investment incentive, the open-ended nature of the energy profits levy, and the potential to bring electricity generation into scope, will be damaging to investment needed for energy security and net zero ambitions.“It sends the wrong signal to the whole sector at the wrong time against a backdrop of rising business taxation elsewhere.”TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The Chancellor should have acted far sooner after his inadequate spring statement. His dither and delay has caused unnecessary hardship and worry for millions.“The government still doesn’t have a plan for giving families long-term financial security.“With energy bills rising 23 times faster than wages we urgently need to get pay packets rising and to pay universal credit at a permanently higher rate – not just a one-off boost.”Kitty Ussher, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “Ultimately, what is good for household confidence is also good for the economy as a whole.“However, it is still the case that high energy prices are causing huge concern for business leaders.”Hannah Essex, Co-Executive Director of the British Chambers of Commerce said: “Unless steps are also taken to ease business costs, they will likely [sic] feed into the inflationary pressure on the economy and quickly eat into the financial support announced today.“A change of course is needed now. If the government does not act quickly, then rising costs will put our economy in a stranglehold.”Manuel Cortes, Transport Salaried Staffs Association General Secretary, said: “This package although somewhat late is welcome, but we need an emergency budget to deal with the cost-of-living crisis to ensure that no-one is left behind.”Jane Dalton26 May 2022 15:121653573971Tory MP calls for minimum wage rise beyond inflationConservative MP John Baron called for the government to raise minimum wages ahead of inflation and scrap the corporation tax increase to help fund the measure.The MP for Basildon and Billericay said: “The Chancellor and the Government’s absolutely right to recognise that more needs to be done. But I would suggest to him also that generally lower taxes bring forward greater prosperity over the medium- to longer term.“Given that inflation is going to be less transitory than many believe… will the Chancellor give consideration to raising the minimum wages ahead of inflation to help the lowest paid, given we have record low unemployment, whilst scrapping the corporation tax increases to help industry pay for that?”Rishi Sunak said: “I’m proud that the minimum wage has gone up this year significantly, putting £1,000 extra into people’s pay cheques, and actually we have a target long term to increase it to two-thirds of median earnings, which will ensure that it does tend to rise faster than inflation in normal times.“But I’m happy to work with him on making that happen.”Jane Dalton26 May 2022 15:061653573795What is a windfall tax and what does it mean for me?Saphora Smith explains exactly what the chancellor’s announcement means for everyone:Jane Dalton26 May 2022 15:031653571119Windfall taxes in place until prices hit more normal level, Sunak saysThe windfall tax will be in place until “prices return to a more normal level”, Rishi Sunak has said.Mr Sunak told the Commons: “We will put a backstop sunset clause in the legislation with the energy profits levy. It’ll remain in place until prices return to a more normal level.”Andy Gregory26 May 2022 14:181653570921Tory MP warns Sunak against ‘throwing red meat to socialists’A Tory MP has warned Rishi Sunak against “throwing red meat to socialists by raising taxes on businesses and telling them where to invest their money”, warning this is “not the Conservative way of encouraging those who create our prosperity and jobs to do just that”.Richard Drax asked the chancellor whether he agreed that “by setting this bar, we’re in danger – were we ever to lose power – of allowing the socialists to raise it, which they would do with relish, again and again and again”.Mr Sunak said he believed a “pragmatic and compassionate Conservative government would act to provide support to the most vulnerable at a time of acute need, and a fiscally responsible government would look to try to fund as much of that as possible in as fair a way as possible”.Earlier, the chancellor had said that the government’s cost-of-living support measures were “more generous” than those called for by Labour.Andy Gregory26 May 2022 14:151653570667Tory MP quizzes Sunak on why Japan and Switzerland have escaped inflation riseTory former minister Sir Desmond Swayne has asked Rishi Sunak what “difference in monetary policy has protected Japan and Switzerland from the levels of inflation” encountered in the UK, US and the rest of Europe.The chancellor replied: “Japan as he will appreciate is a very particular case but even there, they are experiencing their highest inflation rates relative in many, many years.“With regard to Switzerland, the reason is a couple of things. One is a strong, particularly strong Swiss franc, which happens at times like this, but also a very different mix of energy, which I believe is provided overwhelmingly by hydro-nuclear from memory, but it’s a completely different energy mix, which means that they suffer less from the shock that we are experiencing.”Andy Gregory26 May 2022 14:11 More

The chair of parliament’s privileges committee has said it is “absolutely certain” that Boris Johnson will be forced from office if the cross-party panel finds he has misled the Commons.Mr Johnson has resisted calls from Labour and some of his own MPs to step down following Wednesday’s release of the Sue Gray report, which detailed drunken parties at 10 Downing Street during the coronavirus lockdown.But he now faces an inquiry by the Commons privileges committee into whether he knowingly misled when he repeatedly told parliament that there were no parties.And chair Chris Bryant said that he will be forced to quit if the committee finds he lied.Labour MP Mr Bryant, who has stepped aside from the inquiry because of his own vocal criticisms of the prime minister, said the committee could trigger a recall ballot in Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency by recommending his suspension from the Commons.“They can force him to quit,” he told Sky News. ”I’m absolutely certain that if the privileges committee decides that the prime minister has misled parliament and sends a report to the House to that effect, Boris Johnson may still try to cling on, but I would have brought that at that point every self-respecting member of the House of Commons would vote for whatever suspension is recommended by the committee. “And if he’s suspended from the House, he’s out. That’s it.”Mr Bryant said that the committee could take as long as four months to reach its conclusions.And he insisted that its in-built Conservative majority did not necessarily mean it would clear the PM of lying.”There are four Conservative members on the privileges committee and I respect them,” he said. “I have absolutely no questions about them. They will all want to do a very proper job. “And if that committee – which has a Conservative majority on it – comes to the conclusion that the prime minister has lied to parliament, I’m absolutely certain that the prime minister will leave office, and probably leave parliament.”A recall petition can be triggered if the Commons votes for the suspension of an MP on the recommendation of the House’s privileges committee. A re-run election will be held if the petition is signed by more than 10 per cent of constituents – around 7,000 people in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. The suspended MP is allowed to stand in the election to try to hold onto the seat. Mr Bryant said that Tory MPs may not vote to preserve a prime minister who they increasingly see as an electoral liability for their party.“I think there’s quite a lot of people in the Labour Party who have now decided that actually for the Labour Party, and for the next general election, let’s keep Boris Johnson,” he said. “I think a lot of voters in the country have made their mind up about a Conservative Party that keeps Boris Johnson – the culprit and the liar – as their leader. “Two Conservatives I bumped into in the lift yesterday on the way to a vote said to me: ‘Look, we’ve lost the next general election because Tory colleagues won’t act against him, even though they’ve seen it plain as a pikestaff.”Despite Mr Johnson’s plea for the country to “move on” from Partygate, Mr Bryant predicted that the fallout from the scandal would “go on and on and on”, preventing the PM from focusing on issues like the Ukraine war and the cost of living.“All of these were unforced errors which stem from his personality,” he said. “They’ll all happen again.” More

Hundreds of pounds will be cut from energy bills under measures expected to be announced by Rishi Sunak to ease the cost of living crisis.The chancellor is to ditch the previously announced £200 loan on energy bills and replace it with a grant that will not have to be paid back, with the discount possibly increasing to as much as £400, according to reports.And despite initial opposition from himself and other prominent government figures – such as Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg – Mr Sunak is set to approve a windfall tax on energy companies.Extra measures which have been discussed as part of a package worth around £10bn could include a further increase to the warm homes discount to help low-income households cope with rising energy bills.Other policies which have been discussed include increases in the winter fuel allowance, a further cut in council tax or a VAT cut.Mr Sunak will detail his plan in the Commons on Thursday as the government seeks to regain the initiative following a damaging set of revelations in Sue Gray’s report on the Partygate row.The need for extra help was illustrated earlier this week by Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley, who gave a dire warning that the energy price cap will increase by a further £830 to £2,800 in October.Ministers have spent months criticising the idea of a windfall tax because of its potential impact on investment. But on Wednesday a Tory source said the arguments had been “tested rigorously” within both the Treasury and wider government.Cost of living: how to get helpThe cost of living crisis has touched every corner of the UK, pushing families to the brink with rising food and fuel prices.The Independent has asked experts to explain small ways you can stretch your money, including managing debt and obtaining items for free. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/cost-of-living-tips-advice-b2081583.htmlIf you need to access a food bank, find your local council’s website using gov.uk.https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council and then use the local authority’s site to locate your nearest centre. The Trussell Trust, which runs many foodbanks, has a similar tool. https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank/Citizens Advice provides free help to people in need. The organisation can help you find grants or benefits, or advise on rent, debt and budgeting. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/.If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected], or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.“There’s a high threshold that any package that we bring forward delivers more gain than pain, that the gain is worth the pain, that it does not jeopardise the investment,” he said.“You don’t introduce random taxes that make the economic environment unpredictable.”Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), which represents the offshore oil and gas industry, has warned a one-off tax on North Sea firms would see higher prices and do long-term damage to the oil and gas industry.A Treasury spokesperson said: “The chancellor was clear that as the situation evolves, so will our response, with the most vulnerable being his No 1 priority.“He will set out more details tomorrow.”The prime minister said the hundreds of billions poured in to dealing with the Covid pandemic had left a “very difficult fiscal position”.At a Downing Street press conference, he acknowledged households “are going to see pressures for a while to come” as a result of the spike in global energy prices and supply chain problems following the pandemic.But he said: “We will continue to respond, just as we responded throughout the pandemic.“It won’t be easy, we won’t be able to fix everything.“But what I would also say is we will get through it and we will get through it well.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has argued a U-turn on the windfall tax was “inevitable” as the tax on North Sea firms would “raise billions of pounds, cutting energy bills across the country”.Additional reporting by PA More

Sue Gray’s report has triggered a fresh wave of fury among officials in Whitehall, outraged at the lack of punishment for senior civil servants.A host of officials told The Independent that Ms Gray’s lack of recommendations for disciplinary actions has left them unable to clean up the civil service’s reputation.“Simon, Martin, Helen and others have brought the service into disrepute,” a senior Whitehall source said.Simon Case, the UK’s most senior official, attended gatherings near his office and the birthday party for which the chancellor Rishi Sunak and prime minister Boris Johnson were both fined. He did not receive a fine from the police.Martin Reynolds, at the time Mr Johnson’s most senior aide, sent messages in order to organise a BYOB drinks party in the Downing Street garden in May 2020. He then sent a message saying the party was something “we seem to have got away with”.Helen MacNamara, the then deputy cabinet secretary, set up a karaoke machine at a party in the cabinet office, Ms Gray’s report said.“We are meant to guide more junior staff away from situations where they blur lines with political advisers and poor behaviour,” officials said. “Their actions essentially led others to think, ‘dive in’”, they added, noting that morale was already bruised by reports of job cuts.As the most senior civil servant in the UK, Mr Case is ultimately responsible for the conduct of officials, particularly those in the cabinet office.Ms Gray’s report said: “Many will be dismayed that behaviour of this kind took place on this scale at the heart of government.”“The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture,” it added.However, a message sent to civil servants by Mr Case and Alex Chisholm, chief operating officer for the civil service, following publication of the report did not offer any apology to staff for what Ms Gray termed “failings”.The fury the message and Ms Gray’s report provoked was not limited to London or “the bubble of Whitehall”, one senior civil servant based in Northern Ireland said.They noted that they regard their Whitehall colleagues as having “extra responsibility” to “set an example” to satellite offices up and down the UK and in UK government sites overseas. They said that they “feel very let down”.Another quipped that staff seemed to have spent their entire “London weighting” on booze, in reference to the additional salary awarded to officials in the capital in order to meet higher living costs, and that they ought to have it revoked.“I want people to know that this is not how all civil servants were behaving during lockdowns. Many of us have families with health concerns, our own reasons to shield, or took risks at work only, strictly, where we had to in order to keep things running,” the official based in Northern Ireland said.The prime minister said he took “full responsibility” for the law-breaking events, which he bitterly regretted.Ms Gray said she remained “immensely proud” to be a civil servant. A government spokesperson said: “Following the completion of the Metropolitan Police Service investigation and publication of Sue Gray’s report, all allegations of misconduct by civil servants and special advisers will be pursued in line with existing policies.“Following the long-standing practice of successive administrations, any specific HR action against individuals will remain confidential.” More