Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson has told the public to “move on” from the Partygate scandal, despite Sue Gray’s report revealing drunkenness, vomiting and damage at the illegal events and the abuse of cleaners who objected to them.The long-awaited report sparked fresh calls for the prime minister to quit and also left key unanswered questions – after he twice refused to say what happened at the so-called “Abba party” in his own flat.It also revealed that Mr Johnson’s former private secretary, Martin Reynolds, was urged to cancel the “BYOB party” staged in the No 10 garden, although no there was no evidence that the prime minister was warned.But senior cabinet ministers rallied around the PM and only one further Tory MP, Julian Sturdy, broke ranks to call for Mr Johnson to resign, boosting Downing Street’s confidence that he will survive the scandal.One message sent by Mr Reynolds to another aide and revealed in the report – noting “we seem to have got away with” the BYOB event – appeared to also epitomise how the danger to Mr Johnson has ebbed away.In the Commons, the prime minister said he was “humbled” by the findings, but defended his decision to attend leaving events for hard-working staff to “keep morale as high as possible”.He argued they had only broken Covid rules after he left – pointing to the fact that he had not been fined for brief appearances – and repeated that he believed they were “work events”.“I had no knowledge of those subsequent proceedings because I simply wasn’t there,” Mr Johnson insisted – while arguing he was not trying to “mitigate” his responsibility.“I think that, overwhelmingly, the will of this country is for us now to say thank you to Sue Gray and for us collectively to move on,” he told the Commons.At a media conference, he pointed to the “biggest war in Europe for 70 years” and a “huge spike in the cost of living”, arguing: “My job to get on and serve the people of this country.”Later, he told backbench Tories the government should spend no more time on the controversy – while joking that a No 10 alcohol ban would have cost Britain the Second World War.But there was astonishment that Ms Gray chose not to investigate the alleged “Abba party” in his Downing Street flat, in November 2020, held to mark the departure of Dominic Cummings.Mr Johnson refused twice to say “what were you, your wife, and five aides doing for several hours with alcohol and snacks”, as one questioner put it – while claiming it was “a work meeting”.Sir Ken Macdonald, a former director of public prosecutions, said it was “surprising” there was no proper investigation and said the prime minister would be “rather relieved”.“That would have been particularly embarrassing since it took place in his own flat,” Sir Ken told the BBC, adding: “I thought that was a rather serious allegation.”Over 37 pages, criticising “a serious failure” to abide by the “standards expected of the entire British population”, Ms Gray revealed that: After “excessive alcohol consumption”, at a June 2020 party in the Cabinet Office, “one individual was sick. There was a minor altercation between two other individuals”. Although some staff left around 9pm, it continued with “the last member of staff, who stayed to tidy up, leaving at 03.13” the following day.The invitation to a December 2020 press office party was changed on the day from “Wine and Cheese Evening” to read “End of Year Meeting with Wine and Cheese”. “A cleaner who attended the room the next morning noted that there had been red wine spilt on one wall and on a number of boxes of photocopier paper,” the report stated.After two separate No 10 parties in April 2021. “a number of individuals gathered near a child’s swing/slide in the garden, damaging it by leaning on and playing with it”.There were “multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff. This was unacceptable”.The senior Cabinet Office mandarin pinned part of the blame on Mr Johnson, stating: “The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture.”Some Conservative MPs repeated their calls for Mr Johnson to quit, former defence minister Tobias Ellwood asking his colleagues: “Are you willing, day in and day out, to defend this behaviour publicly?”David Davis, the former Brexit minister, said voters backed his earlier call for a resignation, saying: “On the train, in the streets, in the tearoom, everywhere, people say, ‘actually, you were right’.”Some 65 per cent of voters told the pollsters Savanta ComRes that Mr Johnson should resign, 4 percentage points more than when he received his Covid fine. More

Slovenia’s parliament on Wednesday voted to appoint the leader of a liberal-green party that won last month’s election as the country’s new prime minister, replacing a right-wing populist.Lawmakers voted 54-30 for Robert Golob, head of the Freedom Movement party, to take the position. A separate vote is expected in early June to confirm Golob’s new government.Golob, a former business executive and a newcomer in politics, told parliament earlier Wednesday that tackling problems in healthcare and containing rising energy and food prices will be his priorities.“A month ago, voters made it clear that they want to live in a normal country, where they won’t be facing constant uncertainty about what the next day will bring,” said Golob, who ran an energy company in the past. His Freedom Movement won an overwhelming majority of seats at the April 24 vote, defeating the right-wing Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his Slovenian Democratic Party. Golob’s party has formed an alliance with other center-left groups.Jansa has faced accusations that he turned the small European Union country toward right-wing populism while in office. He has also faced EU scrutiny over allegations of pressure on the media and the takeover of state institutions by loyalists. Jansa has denied the allegations. More

Boris Johnson’s apology for the treatment of Downing Street cleaners and security guards during illegal gatherings is “too little, too late”, a worker has said.The Sue Gray report detailed “unacceptable” incidents and revealed how one cleaner had to scrub red wine from a wall after a raucous Christmas party that violated Covid restrictions.“I was made aware of multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff – this was unacceptable,” the report said.Addressing parliament on Wednesday, the prime minister said rudeness towards staff was “absolutely inexcusable” and that “whoever was responsible” should apologise.“Frankly, I have been appalled by some of the behaviour, particularly in the treatment of the security and the cleaning staff,” he told MPs. “I would like to apologise to those members of staff, and I expect anyone who behaved in that way to apologise to them as well.”The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said Mr Johnson should resign and had shown a “failure of leadership”.One of the union’s members, who works in the Cabinet Office, said: “The prime minister’s apology is too little, too late. His empty words will be no consolation to the hard-working cleaners and security guards who have suffered under his leadership.”Paul Chiy, founder of the Cleaners Union, called the behaviour detailed in the Gray report “despicable”.“In the pandemic, cleaners were on the frontline all the time – the minimum they should expect is a ‘thank you’, people don’t ask for much,” he told The Independent. “This is despicable but we’re not surprised that this is happening in a place like that, it’s happening in other places as well.”Dr Chiy said cleaners were already “underpaid, overworked and underlooked”, adding: “They are not only left to clean up the dirt but are treated as such. This is unacceptable.”The United Voices of the World union, which represents cleaners and security guards who work in other government buildings, said it was “not in the least bit surprised”.General secretary Petros Elia added: “These workers face disrespect on a daily basis in offices across London, not just in Downing Street. “It is disrespectful to have rowdy parties during the pandemic and expect cleaners to mop up after you, but it is also disrespectful to pay cleaners, porters, security guards … poverty wages, not give them full sick pay or better pensions. ‘I overwhelmingly feel it is my job to get on and deliver’, says Johnson after Gray report“Most of the cleaners and security guards out there are ethnic minority workers, Black, brown and migrant people, who are disproportionately impacted by poor working conditions and racialised inequalities.”Jim Melvin, chair of the British Cleaning Council, said the parties came at a time when cleaning staff were “putting themselves at risk to maintain high standards of hygiene” and keep the public safe.“It is absolutely appalling and upsetting to hear that they were being treated with such contempt by people who sit within government or the civil service and who frankly should know better,” he added.“The prime minister himself thanked cleaning staff in parliament and now we are subjected to the contents of Sue Gray’s report.”What cleaning staff need is support and recognition from the government, not to be treated with such arrogance or disrespect.” More

‘I overwhelmingly feel it is my job to get on and deliver’, says Johnson after Gray reportBoris Johnson must resign in “the public interest”, a Tory MP has said, as the fallout from Sue Gray’s damning inquiry into raucous No 10 parties during lockdown continued.MP for York Outer Julian Sturdy tweeted that he felt “unable” to give Mr Johnson the benefit of the doubt and “feel it is in the public interest for him to resign”.Despite pressure from his own side to quit, the prime minister said he “overwhelmingly” believed he should remain in office despite public anger at the “bitter and painful” conclusions of the Partygate saga.Mr Johnson issued a televised apology over the scandal in an address to the nation after the report attacked “a serious failure” to abide by the “standards expected of the entire British population” during the pandemic.The findings of the report revealed raucous parties in No 10 where staff sang karaoke, dozens of people attended a drunken party at which red wine was spilled on a wall and that “winetime Fridays” were regular events.One individual was sick due to “excessive alcohol consumption”, partygoers were rude to cleaning and security staff, and there was a “minor altercation” between two other partygoers. Show latest update

1653518451Boris Johnson’s full statement after Sue Gray reportBoris Johnson’s full statement after Sue Gray reportJoe Middleton25 May 2022 23:401653516951Lib Dems focus Tiverton and Honiton by-election campaign material on PartygateThe Liberal Democrats campaign material for the upcoming Tiverton and Honiton by-election focuses heavily on the Partygate scandal.The ad has a picture of an elderly person grieving with the words “while people grieved alone..” above her and then a picture of a smiling Boris Johnson that says “they partied in Downing Street”.Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat candidate for the seat told The Independent he felt the campaign material highlighted what voters were talking about on the doorstep.He said: “People are telling us they just want honesty and integrity from their prime minister and it is quite obvious he has just not shown that and what this does is act as a mouthpiece for what those people are saying; that they are fed up with that lack of integrity. And we are saying they don’t have to put up with it, there is an alternative.“Johnson set the rules and the hypocrisy in not following them and then not being honest about that with parliament or the British people shows a complete lack of moral courage. It is right to acknowledge to that.”Joe Middleton25 May 2022 23:151653515410Boris Johnson set to pay tribute to ‘remarkable’ QueenBoris Johnson will pay tribute to the “remarkable” Queen in an address to Parliament ahead of her Platinum Jubilee.The prime minister will say that the Queen’s length of service and dedication to duty are “without parallel”.It comes as the nation prepares to celebrate the Jubilee over the June bank holiday.Mr Johnson will make his tribute to the Queen while proposing a Humble Address in Parliament.He will say: “Today we pay tribute to a head of state whose length of service and dedication to duty to are simply without parallel.“The only monarch most of us in this country have ever known and the rock to which our nation and our people have been anchored throughout all that the past 70 years have thrown at us.”He will add that the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth will be “unabashed” in celebrating her.“That is why next week the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth will be unabashed in celebrating not the institution of the Crown but the individual who wears it,” he will tell Parliament.“This remarkable woman who by God and her right has led her country through good times and bad.“Who has dedicated her life to her people, to her beloved Commonwealth, to the very idea of what a constitutional monarchy can and should be.”Joe Middleton25 May 2022 22:501653513845Tory peer Zac Goldsmith criticises Archbishop of Canterbury’s Partygate interventionTory peer and former MP Zac Goldsmith has criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for his comments on Sue Gray’s Partygate report.Justin Welby said the report shows that “culture, behaviour and standards in public life” matter. In a statement, the archbishop added that “we need to be able to trust our national institutions” in times of trouble.On Twitter, Mr Goldsmith responded to Mr Welby’s statement and said: “War, hunger, environmental devastation, collapse of the natural systems we all depend on… But great to see the head of the Church focusing on the things that really matter.”Joe Middleton25 May 2022 22:241653513035Labour peer calls on Tory members to stop ‘out-of-touch’ PMResponding to the Sue Gray report in the Lords, Labour frontbencher Lord Collins of Highbury called on Conservative members to act “to stop this out-of-touch, out-of-control Prime Minister from driving Britain towards disaster”.He said: “When the dust settles and the anger – strongly felt by many of our communities – subsides, this report will stand as a monument to the arrogance of a government that believed it was one rule for them and another rule for everyone else.“It is pretty clear the Prime Minister knew exactly what was happening in Number 10 throughout the lockdown periods and that it was wrong both legally and morally.”Appealing to Tory peers, he said: “They must now use their influence on colleagues to stop this out-of-touch, out-of-control Prime Minister from driving Britain towards disaster.”Joe Middleton25 May 2022 22:101653511631Sue Gray report: Fury in Whitehall as senior officials escape Partygate punishmentSue 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.Anna Isaac reports.Joe Middleton25 May 2022 21:471653510567Tory MP thinks Boris Johnson will lead party into the next electionA Tory MP has said she thinks Boris Johnson will lead the Conservatives into the next election, despite the fallout from the Partygate scandal.In a clip posted to Twitter, ITV’s Robert Peston asks Victoria Prentis: “It sounds like you believe the prime minister will lead your party into the next election?”She responds: “Yes I think he will, today is clearly not a great day…”Joe Middleton25 May 2022 21:291653509135ICYMI: PM refuses to say what he was doing at the ‘Abba party’ in his flatPM refuses to say what he was doing at the ‘Abba party’ in his flatJoe Middleton25 May 2022 21:051653508627Tory MP accuses NHS staff of ‘letting hair down’ under Covid lockdownA Conservative MP has accused NHS workers of “letting their hair down” during the UK’s Covid lockdowns in a similar way to government staff during the events detailed in Sue Gray’s Partygate report.According to a BBC journalist, Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, told its Look East programme “you haven’t gone and investigated it, but there are 1.5m people working in NHS” and he bets that, if the broadcaster tried hard enough, it “could find some people who were letting their hair down who were working 24/7 in the NHS as well.”Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has hit out at the comments, which he described as a “grotesque insult to the people who work for the NHS.”“He should withdraw this and apologise,” he added.Emily Atkinson25 May 2022 20:571653507473Opinion: Sue Gray has given Boris Johnson’s critics enough ammunition to move against himIn her long-awaited report on Partygate today, Sue Gray has given Boris Johnson’s critics enough ammunition to move against him, writes Andrew Grice.The senior civil servant concluded: “The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture.”In other words, Johnson as well as senior civil servants must take the rap for a drinking and party culture in Downing Street and for the “many” events which Gray said “should not have been allowed to happen” because they broke the government’s Covid laws.Her 37-page report is typically forensic, matching up the detailed preparations for events and what happened at them (the last person leaving No 10 at 04:20 or 03:13, for example). It could have been worse for Johnson; his friends will argue there is no smoking gun telling us something new about his involvement and the photos of parties Gray published were not damaging.Emily Atkinson25 May 2022 20:37 More

Sue Gray’s full report has been published to offer the clearest look at the Partygate scandal which has sparked anger across the UK. The civil servant has released her findings into parties held at the top of government during the Covid pandemic, concluding there was “a serious failure” to abide by standards expected of the public. Her report offers an insight into leaving dos and other boozy gatherings, including drinking until the early hours of the morning, a scuffle breaking out and even a staff member vomiting. More

Rishi Sunak has been branded “out of touch” after reportedly paying more than £10,000 to fly by private helicopter to a Tory dinner in Wales.The chancellor is said to have shelled out of his own pocket for the round-trip from Battersea heliport in London to the Conservative conference event in Newtown, Powys, at the weekend.Labour has called Mr Sunak “out of touch” with ordinary voters, with shadow financial secretary James Murray saying he should “start paying attention to the problem most families face – soaring bills and rising prices”.Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty just this week made the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time with their joint £730m fortune.Last month, The Independent revealed how Ms Murty claimed non-domicile status in order to save on her tax bill.Ms Murty, whose family business is estimated to be worth around £3.5bn, continued to use the valuable tax status even after Mr Sunak was put in charge of setting taxes for the country in February 2020.It is not known exactly how much has been saved by Ms Murty but sources told The Independent it could have saved her millions of pounds in tax on foreign earnings over several years.Ms Murty later announced she would pay UK taxes on her overseas income – but insisted the contentious non-dom arrangement had been “entirely legal”.And just last week Mr Sunak claimed there was nothing the government could do to stop rising inflation impacting Britain’s families, as it rose to 9 per cent for the first time in 40 years. More

Legal action has been launched over the Metropolitan Police’s alleged failure to “adequately investigate” Boris Johnson’s attendance at illegal Downing Street parties.The Good Law Project has given the force two weeks to respond to its legal letter before applying for a judicial review in the High Court.The group is representing Lord Paddick, who is a former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and is now a Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Lords. More

Inflation for Britain’s poorest households could hit as high as 14 per cent this autumn amid surging energy bills, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.The stark warning from the respected think-tank comes after the energy regulator, Ofgem, told MPs that gas and electric bills could rise again in October, from £1,971 to £2,800 a year.After intense political pressure, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is poised to unveil a package of measures within days, in an attempt to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis. More