Markus Andrews

A Conservative MP today announced she has quit her government job, citing “deep disappointment” with Boris Johnson’s handling of the Partygate scandal.Guildford MP Angela Richardson said she had stood down as parliamentary private secretary to Michael Gove in order to be able to “hold the government to account as a critical friend”.She said that Mr Johnson’s comments on the lockdown-breaching gatherings at 10 Downing Street “ring hollow” with nurses who had served in NHS intensive care units through the Covid-19 pandemic.And she said that the process of rebuilding voters’ trust will only be possible once Sue Gray’s report into the 16 events has been published in full.It is the second time Ms Richardson – who entered parliament in 2019 as part of the new intake swept into the Commons by Mr Johnson’s landslide victory – has left the PPS post.She was fired as Mr Gove’s PPS in November last year after abstaining in a vote to overhaul the Commons standards rulebook to save Owen Paterson from punishment for paid lobbying. But she was reinstated the following day when Mr Johnson U-turned on the issue.In a statement setting out her decision to quit now, she said that constituents had sent her many moving stories of family tragedies and struggles with mental and physical health resulting from the tough lockdown rules imposed by Mr Johnson.And she said: “Any request for a sense of perspective from those around No 10 rang hollow with the ITU (intensive care unit) nurse that I spoke to while out knocking doors at the weekend.“Frontline NHS workers like her had also been working hard through the pandemic, putting their health and lives on the line to save others.“Sue Gray’s report published today clearly states that there were failings at No 10 Downing Street that let us all down. The prime minister again apologised for those.“I share the deep disappointment that it has taken so long to get to this stage when there could have been an early acknowledgement and apology.“It also seems as though there are further questions to which we do not yet have the answer because of the Metropolitan Police investigation.” More

Police investigating Downing Street parties have been given more than 300 photos and 500 pages of information, Scotland Yard has said.Commander Catherine Roper gave an update on the investigation after Sue Gray’s report revealed that police are probing 12 events, including a birthday celebration for the prime minister and alleged party inside his private flat.She said police were reviewing a huge amount of written evidence in order to confirm which politicians and civil servants will need to be contacted.A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said it would be “necessary for us to contact those who attended these events to get their account”.“The reason this request is necessary is that in any investigation officers seek independent accounts from each individual, as free from the influence of others’ recollections as possible,” a statement added. “Officers would also seek to avoid providing details of their investigation in advance to those they contact, so that individuals are not tempted to shape their accounts according to what is in the public domain.”The force said the move was “a standard approach in all investigations … and not a judgement on the individuals who attended these specific event”.The Metropolitan Police will be contacting people suspected of breaching Covid restrictions in writing and asking whether they had a “reasonable excuse” in law for the gathering.If they do not, it can issue fines of between £100 and £10,000, depending on the law that was in force at the time, the size of the gathering and the person’s role.Scotland Yard confirmed that it had asked the Cabinet Office not to detail information on the events in the redacted report released on Monday, but stressed that the request only applies for the duration of its probe, and not to the four events that did not reach the threshold for criminal investigation. Boris Johnson repeatedly refused calls, including from senior Tory MPs, for a commitment to publishing the full unredacted report in the House of Commons.Mr Johnson issued an apology and insisted he was “making changes” to Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, including by creating a new Office of the Prime Minister.Ms Gray’s report said that of the 16 events examined as part of her inquiry, only four were not being investigated by the police.“Unfortunately, this necessarily means that 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.Theresa May tells PM he either didn’t understand Covid rules or thought he was exempt“It is not for me to make a judgment on whether the criminal law has been broken; that is properly a matter for law enforcement. “In line with my terms of reference I have been in regular contact with the Metropolitan Police as my work has progressed in order for them to take decisions on the gatherings under examination, including whether to launch their own investigation.”Scotland Yard is investigating the 20 May 2020 gathering in Downing Street’s garden, where a leaked email showed staff had been invited to “bring your own booze”.Police are not looking at a gathering that took place five days before, where a photograph showed wine and cheese being consumed by the prime minister, his wife and other attendees.Officers are investigating a gathering held in the Cabinet Office on 18 June 2020 to mark the departure of a Downing Street private secretary, and Mr Johnson’s birthday celebration the following day.Two gatherings on 13 November 2020 are under police investigation – an alleged party in the prime minister’s flat and a separate Downing Street gathering marking the departure of a special adviser. England was in lockdown at the time.Scotland Yard is not investigating a Downing Street special adviser’s leaving gathering where the prime minister gave a speech on 27 November 2020, or a Department for Education Christmas gathering on 10 December 2020.The force has also excluded Downing Street’s festive quiz on 15 December 2020, but are looking at a Cabinet Office Christmas quiz held two days later.Police are probing two further celebrations on 17 December 2020, which were separate leaving dos for Cabinet Office and Downing Street officials.Downing Street’s alleged 18 December 2020 Christmas party is under police investigation, as is a gathering for two Number 10 private secretaries on 14 January last year.Two celebrations held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral – 16 April – for Downing Street’s then director of communications James Slack and Mr Johnson’s personal photographer – are also part of Scotland Yard’s probe.According to reports, attendees danced to music and at one point a staffer was sent to a local Co-op supermarket with a suitcase that they filled with bottles of wine.The events being investigated by the police are:20 May 2020-in the garden of No 10 Downing Street for No 10 staff18 June 2020- in the Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall to mark the departure of a No 10 private secretary19 June 2020- in the Cabinet room in No 10 Downing Street on the prime minister’s birthday13 November 2020-in the No 10 Downing Street flat- in No 10 Downing Street to mark the departure of a special adviser17 December 2020-in Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall for an online Christmas quiz for the cabinet secretary’s private office-in Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall to mark the departure of a senior Cabinet Office official- in No 10 Downing Street for the departure of a No 10 official18 December 2020- in No 10 Downing Street ahead of the Christmas break14 January 2021- in No 10 Downing Street on the departure of two No 10 private secretaries16 April 2021- in No 10 Downing Street for the departure of a senior No 10 official More

Staff in government departments across Whitehall look set to be subjected to a “booze ban” in most work settings in the wake of the Sue Gray partygate inquiry.But it is understood that there will not be a blanket ban on drink, which would prevent government buildings being used for events like hosting visiting dignitaries or charity receptions.In a key recommendation in her 12-page interim report, the senior civil servant – a former pub landlady – said that every department should draw up a “robust” policy on alcohol in the workplace.And No 10 later made clear that this would involve a ban in most circumstances.Ms Gray’s inquiry looked into 16 separate occasions in 2020 and 2021 when alcohol was allegedly consumed in apparent breach of Covid regulations, ranging from parties in the garden and basement of No 10, to quiz events and a gathering in Boris Johnson’s private flat.It emerged that No 10 staff had a suitcase which they used to bring bottles of wine into the building.In her report, Ms Gray said: “The excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time.“Steps must be taken to ensure that every government department has a clear and robust policy in place covering the consumption of alcohol in the workplace.”The prime minister’s official spokesperson confirmed that this recommendation had been accepted.He said that fuller detail on how any alcohol ban would operate will be produced once there has been time to develop the policy properly. More

Boris Johnson has sparked a fresh wave of outrage after telling MPs the government had been “cutting crime by 14 per cent”, when overall levels have increased.The prime minister made the claim while responding to Sue Gray’s report on Downing Street parliament in the House of Commons on Monday.Mr Johnson told MPs the issue was “whether this government can be trusted to deliver”, repeating: “Yes, we can be trusted!” The prime minister reeled off a list of policies, including the Covid vaccination programme and freeports, but was greeted with shouts of “what?” from opposition MPs with a claim on crime levels.Mr Johnson said “we’ve been cutting crime by 14 per cent”, but official figures published on Thursday showed many types of crime up while prosecutions hit a record low.Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “The prime minister claimed he has ‘been cutting crime by 14 per cent’ even though the independent Office of National Statistics (ONS) said just last week there had been ‘a 14 per cent increase in total crime’. “To say things that are contradicted by the facts in the middle of a statement that is all about the lack of integrity and honesty in Number 10 is truly shameful. It shows, yet again, that no one can trust anything that Boris Johnson says.”The prime minister appeared to be referring to statistics from the Crime Survey of England and Wales, which uses people’s reported experiences of crime rather than those recorded by police.In the year to September, compared with the year to September 2019, the survey showed a 14 per cent increase in total crime. The figures were only down by 14 per cent if surging fraud and computer misuse are excluded from the total. The ONS said the crime survey was not a reliable measure of high-harm crimes, such as serious violence, which are better measured by police figures.They showed the highest ever number of rapes and sexual offences ever recorded in the same period, 12 per cent up on the previous year.Police recorded a decrease in some forms of violent crime, including stabbings, but the ONS report made no mention of government policy playing a role.“Patterns of crime in the year ending September 2021 have been significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and government restrictions on social contact,” it said.“The number of incidents decreased for many types of crime during periods of national lockdowns. However, police-recorded crime data show indications that over the last six months, certain offence types are returning to or exceeding the levels seen before the pandemic.”Separate figures published by the Home Office showed that the proportion of crimes prosecuted in England and Wales plummeted to a record low in the year to September.Overall, 6 per cent of crimes were prosecuted, including just 1.3 per cent of rapes, 2.9 per cent of all sexual offences and 5.4 per cent of violent crimes.The figures came amid record delays in the time taken for cases to be dealt with, leaving victims waiting years for justice.The average time taken from the recording of a serious offence to the end of proceedings is now 708 days, and the number of outstanding crown court cases stands at around 60,000, including 49,000 trials. More

Downing Street has announced that Sue Gray’s full report on lockdown-busting events at No 10 will be published following the completion of the police inquiry.The promise came after Boris Johnson came under fire for refusing to confirm that he would stick by his commitment to make the Whitehall mandarin’s findings public.The prime minister initially told MPs he would “take a decision” on publication after the Metropolitan Police conclude their separate probe into the allegations of parties.And his official spokesperson told reporters that the PM may not even ask Ms Gray to provide him with a further update, following her presentation of a heavily-abridged 12-page report today. More

Theresa May has launched a devastating broadside against Boris Johnson in the wake of an investigation into rule breaking at Downing Street.Speaking in the Commons on Monday afternoon the former Conservative prime minister asked Mr Johnson whether he did not understand Covid rules – or thought he was exempt.Moments after the publication of Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray’s report was published, Ms May said it showed No 10 “was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public”.She added: “so either my right honourable friend had not read the rules or didn’t understand what they meant and others around him, or they didn’t think the rules applied to Number 10. Which was it?”Mr Johnson replied: “With the greatest respect to my right honourable friend, no, that is not what the Gray report says. But I suggest that she waits to see the conclusion of the inquiry. “In fact, the top civil servant’s report concluded that “a number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did”. Other Tories joined the chorus of criticism against the prime minister. Former Conservative cabinet minister, Andrew Mitchell, also told the prime minister he no longer “enjoys my support”.Senior Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said Tory backbenchers “need no reminder” about how to “dispose of a failing leader”. He called for a streamlined No 10 and warned the PM: “It is on results over the next few months on which he will be judged.” Conservative MPs are said to have been awaiting the findings of Sue Gray’s report before deciding whether to trigger a leadership challenge against Mr Johnson.Former chief whip Mark Harper challenged the prime minister to commit to publish the Gray report “immediately and in full” once the police investigation concludes. But the prime minister said only that he will “take a decision” after Scotland Yard’s probe is done.Tory MP Julian Lewis said Mr Johnson should insist on receiving the full unredacted report immediately and “publish the uncensored version without delay”.Senior backbencher Tobias Ellwood warned that if the PM fails to publish the Gray report in full “then he will no longer have my support”.Meanwhile, Aaron Bell, one of the red wall Tory MPs who won seats in 2019, recalled in the Commons going to his grandmother’s funeral in May 2020 at which only 10 people were allowed to attend.“Many people who loved her had to watch online. I didn’t hug my siblings. I didn’t hug my parents,” Mr Bell – before challenging Mr Johnson: “Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?”Mr Johnson replied: “No … I want to thank my honourable friend and I want to say how deeply I sympathise with him and his family for their loss.”And Tory MP Steve Baker – a leading lockdown sceptic who recent suggested it was “checkmate” for Mr Johnson’s leadership – challenged the PM explained why the government had asked millions of people “to comply with minute restrictions on their freedom”. More

Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to give MPs a commitment to publish Sue Gray’s report into rule-breaking in No 10 in “full”.The prime minister said he will “take a decision” after the Metropolitan Police conclude their separate probe into the allegations of parties.The move is likely to enrage backbench Conservative MPs, who repeatedly tackled Mr Johnson on the issue during a bruising statement to the Commons.On Monday, Ms Gray published an “update” of her long-awaited report after being told to make “minimal” reference to key allegations of gathering under investigation by the Met.She added that in the meantime it was not possible to present a “meaningful report” and was “extremely limited” over the information she could reveal.Speaking moments after her initial findings were published, the former Conservative chief whip Mark Harper told the Commons: “Many have questioned, including my constituents, the prime minister’s honesty, integrity and fitness to hold that office. In judging him he rightly asked us to wait for all the facts.”He added: “Sue Gray has made it clear in her update today that she couldn’t produce a meaningful report with the facts.“So could I ask the prime minister the question (Labour MP Diane Abbott) asked him and to which he didn’t give an answer: when Sue Gray produces all of the facts in her full report after the police investigation, will he commit to publish it immediately and in full?”Mr Johnson, however, said: “What we’ve got to do is wait for the police to conclude their inquiries, that is the proper thing to do. ‘”People have given all sorts of evidence in the expectation that it would not necessarily be published, at that stage I will take a decision about what to publish.”The question was also echoed by senior backbencher Julian Lewis, who chairs Parliament’s intelligence and security committee. He said the prime minister should “publish the uncensored version with any further delay”.But the prime minister replied: “I think extensive legal advice has been taken on this point and Sue Gray has published everything that she thinks she can that is consistent with that advice.”Posting on social media during Mr Johnson’s statement, Tobias Ellwood, another senior Tory MP said: “The PM promised to publish the Sue Gray Report in full so Parliament and the British people could better appreciate the facts and draw their own conclusions. “If the PM fails to publish the report in full then he will no longer have my support.” More

Boris Johnson’s birthday celebration is among a dozen gatherings being investigated by police, Sue Gray’s report has confirmed.The prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson, reportedly helped organise a surprise event for him in Downing Street’s cabinet room on 19 June 2020, where attendees presented a cake and sang “happy birthday”.Covid laws at the time meant that large social gatherings were banned, unless they were between linked households.An alleged party in the prime minister’s private flat in November 2020 was also confirmed to be part of the probe, alongside several leaving dos and Christmas parties.Ms Gray wrote: “It is not for me to make a judgment on whether the criminal law has been broken; that is properly a matter for law enforcement. “In line with my terms of reference I have been in regular contact with the Metropolitan Police as my work has progressed in order for them to take decisions on the gatherings under examination, including whether to launch their own investigation.”The “update” report was published in redacted form on Monday because of the ongoing probe, with Ms Gray saying she was not currently able to provide the “extensive factual information” on the events being handled by police.Scotland Yard is investigating the 20 May 2020 gathering in Downing Street’s garden, where a leaked email showed staff had been invited to “bring your own booze”.Police are not looking at a gathering that took place five days before, where a photograph showed wine and cheese being consumed by the prime minister, his wife and other attendees.Officers are investigating a gathering held in the Cabinet Office on 18 June 2020 to mark the departure of a Downing Street private secretary, and Mr Johnson’s birthday celebration the following day.Two gatherings on 13 November 2020 are under police investigation – an alleged party in the prime minister’s flat and a separate Downing Street gathering marking the departure of a special adviser. England was in lockdown at the time.Scotland Yard is not investigating a Downing Street special adviser’s leaving gathering where the prime minister gave a speech on 27 November 2020, or a Department for Education Christmas gathering on 10 December 2020. More