UK Politics

Boris Johnson is under intense political pressure to publish in “full” the long-awaited report by Sue Gray into rule-busting parties in No 10, as he was challenged in the Commons.It comes as Downing Street is braced to receive the report by the senior civil servant in the next 24 hours and the decision of the Metropolitan Police to launch a separate probe into “a number” of allegations.While some Conservative MPs have already called on Mr Johnson to resign over the affair, many are reserving judgement on his embattled premiership until Ms Gray’s report is made public.Pressing Mr Johnson on the issue of the report’s publication, Sir Keir Starmer told MPs on Wednesday: “The PM’s continual defence is ‘wait for the Sue Gray report.“On 8 December he told this House ‘I will place a copy of the report into the library of the House of Commons”“His spokesperson has repeatedly stated that means the full report, not parts of the report, not a summary of the report, no an edited copy. So can the PM confirm that he will be publish the full Sue Gray report as he receives it?”In response, Mr Johnson replied: “We’ve got to leave the report to the independent investigator, as he knows, of course when I receive it, of course, I will do exactly what I said.”After prime minister’s questions, a senior Labour spokesperson said the prime minister’s response did not give Sir Keir confidence the report will be published in full – as he demanded.“Given the prime minister’s record when it comes to his answers at PMQs, you always have to take things with a pinch of salt,” said the spokesperson. “I think it is concerning that Downing Street refer to publishing ‘findings’ rather than the report. That seems to be a use of language that is certainly a cause for concern.“What matters is that Sue Gray’s report, as it goes to Downing Street, is published in full and published in time for the media, politicians and the public to be able to scrutinise it and that we then have a substantive debate on it.”The spokesperson also said that Labour could use the parliamentary tactic of a “humble address” to secure publication in full if the PM attempts to suppress elements of the report.After prime minister’s questions, his official spokesperson, who confirmed No 10 was still waiting for the report, said: “The findings will be made public in line with the terms of reference. It is our intention to publish those findings as received.”During the session on Wednesday, the prime minister also rejected calls to resign — just 24 hours after Metropolitan Police launched an official investigation.He insisted he was “getting on with the job”, although he acknowledged there were people who “want me out of the way” for a variety of reasons.Addressing MPs, Sir Keir said: “We now have the shameful spectacle of a prime minister of the United Kingdom being subject to a police investigation, unable to lead the country, incapable of doing the right thing and every day his Cabinet fail to speak out they become more and more complicit.” Asked whether he would now quit, Mr Johnson said “no”. More

Parliament’s sleaze watchdog Kathryn Stone has attacked the “bonkers” rules which prevent her office investigating Boris Johnson and other ministers over any alleged breaches of conduct rules.The parliamentary commissioner for standards decried the “inconsistency” of current rules which allowed her to probe alleged offences by MPs but not ministers – saying it was causing public anger.Speaking to MPs on the standards committee, Ms Stone confirmed she had not been able to look into alleged misconduct over Mr Johnson’s £142,000 flat refurbishment because donations had been received in his ministerial capacity.The watchdog said she agreed with Lord Evans’ assessment that the situation was “bonkers”, adding: “It seems inconsistent to us, and to the public. We need to make sure ministers are subject to as much scrutiny as backbench MPs.”She added: “Members of public, not unreasonably, simply cannot understand why a backbench MP is subject to a greater degree of scrutiny in terms of registering things like gifts and hospitality than a minister is.”While Ms Stone’s office investigate MPs about alleged breaches of code of conduct rules on the gifts and hospitality they receive.But any alleged ministerial code breaches are investigated by Lord Geidt, the prime minister’s own independent adviser on ministerial interests.Mr Johnson was forced to apologise to his ethics Lord Geidt earlier this month after he failed to provide his adviser with details of all his communications with the Tory donor over the luxury refit of his flat.Asked by committee chair and Labour MP Chris Bryant about Lord Geidt’s powers – which he described as “nebulous” – Ms Stone acknowledged that there were not set out clearly in statue. She added: “Hopefully that will change.”Ms Stone also said it had been a “really challenging time” for her office because of the deluge of letters from the public demanding investigations – but noted there had been supportive letters praising her office for doing the job “in the light of recent scandals”.She told MPs: “We get an awful lot of letters from members of the public who are very, very frustrated. Members of the public are really angry. They are angry about the ways in which they see members of parliament exploiting opportunities to make additional money.”The parliamentary commissioner added: “They are very angry about what they see as conflicts of interest, their perception of conflicts of interest. They are also concerned that members of parliament get away with things.”Lord Geidt recently said he expects to be given “considerably greater” authority, independence and power as a result of the spat over the prime minister’s flat refurbishment.The comments came in response to a letter from the standards committee asking him whether he felt he should be allowed to launch his own inquiries into allegations of ministerial wrongdoing – rather than wait for a request from the PM. More

Six in 10 Conservative voters (59 per cent) back the police investigation into allegations that parties at 10 Downing Street breached lockdown rules, according to a new survey.The polling figures were released as Liberal Democrats called for prime minister Boris Johnson to be put on gardening leave until the Metropolitan Police inquiry is concluded – a process which could take months.Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said it was necessary to remove the PM from Downing Street to ensure he cannot “try and abuse his position to get himself off the hook”.The new poll, commissioned by Lib Dems, was conducted just before Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick announced a police probe on Tuesday.It found that three-quarters of voters agreed the Met should formally investigate the PM over breaches of Covid regulations at No 10 – including 59 per cent of those who identified themselves as Conservative supporters.Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson said: “Britain played by the rules Boris Johnson wrote, but couldn’t be bothered to stick to himself. The British public now want him to be held to account.”Bereaved families and all those who sacrificed so much in this pandemic deserve to see justice carried out.“This disgraceful soap opera needs to end once and for all. It is time for Conservative MPs to do the decent thing and sack Boris Johnson.”Mr Carmichael said that until the “partygate” inquiry is concluded, Mr Johnson should go home and step back from official work, leaving his deputy Dominic Raab to take over running the day-to-day affairs of the government.Citing warnings – revealed by The Independent – that Downing Street staff may seek to withhold evidence in order to avoid damage to their careers, he said it was standard practice for those subject to investigation to be put on leave to prevent them attempting to influence the outcome.“Since Boris Johnson is such a fan of spending time in his garden, it’s only fitting that he be placed on gardening leave and leave Number 10 whilst the police investigate,” said Mr Carmichael.“This will ensure he cannot try and abuse his position to get himself off the hook.“Refusing to do so will show both the Conservatives’ utter contempt for the public and erode trust in this government even further.” – Savanta ComRes interviewed 2,310 UK adults between 21 and 23 More

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said the party’s MPs will decide on Boris Johnson’s future in “the next few days”.The senior Tory figure said he was reserving “judgement” on the prime minister until the release of the Sue Gray report into parties in Downing Street during lockdown restrictions.But Sir Iain condemned the “appalling” social gatherings at No 10 and Whitehall, and made clear that Mr Johnson was now battling to save his premiership.“When it comes to the judgement on whether the prime minister should remain prime minister, well – that’s a decision many parliamentary members of the Conservative party will make during the course of the next few days,” he told TalkRadio on Wednesday.The former Tory leader said the culture of Downing Street during the pandemic needed “serious leadership” – suggesting it had been lacking from those at the top.“The culture in Downing Street, both among civil servants and politicians, needed to have serious leadership from all those relevant,” said Sir Ian. “There should have been instructions nailed onto every single door on the basis that once you have finished work, go home.”He did say that Mr Johnson had got some of the “big calls” right during the pandemic and said he would make a “calm judgement” once he had read Ms Gray’s report.Asked about the defence of one loyal Tory MP hat the PM had been “ambushed by cake” at his 2020 birthday bash, Sir Iain said: “My colleagues shouldn’t go round trying to excuse these issues – even the prime minister hasn’t done that.”He added: “It’s a dangerous time at the moment, and every day we spend on this is a day lost to serious government decisions elsewhere.”The PM will appear in the Commons with his future still in the balance, with widespread expectation Ms Gray’s report will be made public on Wednesday or Thursday.Junior minister Conor Burns sought to defend the PM by arguing that he had been “ambushed with a cake” during his No 10 birthday gathering held during lockdown restrictions.Loyal backbench Tory MP Andrew Rosindell told Sky News on Wednesday that people should move on from the “noise” about “certain members of staff having parties in garden and birthday cake”.He added: “Are we going to drag another prime minister out of office over something like that? … The prime minister has not committed some horrendous terrible.”Asked if it was okay for Mr Johnson to break the rules, Mr Rosindell said: “Lots of people break the law in small ways, sometimes unintentionally … He’s not robbed a bank – this is getting out of control.”Some Conservative MPs have publicly called for Mr Johnson’s resignation. But others have said they will await the publication of the Gray report before trying to trigger a vote of no confidence, which required 54 letters being submitted to the 1922 Committee of backbenchers.One former Conservative minister – who has made up their mind that Mr Johnson must be replaced – told The Independent: “A serving prime minister investigated by the police is a national embarrassment. If the Gray report is really bad there will a deluge [of letters].” More

A Cabinet minister has said Sue Gray’s report may be redacted for “security” reasons – amid calls for it to be released in full.Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said parts of the internal inquiry could be “problematic to publish”.But she stressed: “We have been absolutely clear that we will publish the findings of the report.”The government could have a fight on its hands if it decides to redact the report, with Tory MPs and opposition figures both having said the report should be released in its entirety. Labour leader Keir Starmer said on Tuesday: “We need to see the report in full and frankly, some of his Cabinet now need to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves why they’re still supporting this Prime Minister.“There’s a Metropolitan Police investigation into the goings on in Downing Street. It’s time that some of those Cabinet members spoke out and said we’re not tolerating this any longer.”And Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen told Channel 4 News that the findings needed to be “unredacted”.“I think the sooner the report comes out now the better, if it is completed, because we can’t sit under this cloud, paralysing the Prime Minister, paralysing the Government,” he added.But speaking on Sky News on Wednesday morning Ms Truss, who is viewed as a leading candidate to succeed Mr Johnson, said Sue Gray had produced an “independent report” and it “it’s a matter for Sue Gray when she sends that report, when she’s completed her work”.On whether she supported the prime minister’s leadership, the foreign secretary added: “He’s admitted that mistakes were made and I 100% support him, and want him to continue as Prime Minister.”Boris Johnson get to decide whether or not the report will be released in full, as he commissioned the inquiry. The probe is into alleged rule breaking on No 10 during lockdown. The Metropolitan Police on Tuesday announced they were also launching a parallel investigation.The Gray report is expected to be sent to No 10 on Wednesday; it is expected to be released to the public alongside a Commons statement by Mr Johnson either later today, or on Thursday. More

Good Morning Britain broadcast an empty chair after ministers failed to appear on the show to discuss the latest revelations in the partygate scandal.Boris Johnson is battling to save his premiership after police launched a criminal investigation into possible breaches of Covid regulations at Number 10 and Whitehall departments following reports of parties held during lockdown.A Tory MP on Tuesday claimed the prime minister was “ambushed with a cake” during a Downing Street birthday gathering held in June 2020 despite indoor events being banned due to coronavirus restrictions.Top civil servant Sue Gray’s inquiry into the alleged parties is expected to soon be published.But on Wednesday GMB presenter Adil Ray claimed no ministers had agreed to appear on the ITV show to address the allegations, despite foreign secretary Liz Truss speaking to other programmes.He told viewers: “As often happens when there’s a big news story around for the government, when they’ve got their backs to the wall, and they need to answer questions, is they disappear.”The camera cut to a view of an empty chair in the studio where a government minister might have sat.“We are hearing we may well not get a government minister this morning despite being a national breakfast show that has a predominantly Midlands and North-based audience as well so the fact the ministers are ignoring a big section of the UK this morning I think is very telling,” said Mr Ray.“If ministers are around we’d love you to speak to the UK. There is a police investigation going on and the least you could do is answers some questions to us, if not the police.”His co-host Susanna Reid added: “Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer them under caution on this programme.”Ms Truss said No 10 had still not received the Sue Gray report on Wednesday morning.When asked on Sky News whether it was right to say Downing Street had not yet received the report, she responded: “That’s correct. And, of course, it’s an independent report, it’s a matter for Sue Gray when she sends that report, when she’s completed her work.” More

Sue Gray, the senior civil servant handed responsibility for untangling a string of Downing Street parties that allegedly broke lockdown rules, has been placed in an “impossible position, with an impossible task,” Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said. Ms Gray, the second permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, was given the job of leading the inquiry into the scandal last month after cabinet secretary Simon Case recused himself when it emerged that a party had also been held within his own department.Boris Johnson and his Cabinet have since declined to answer questions about any allegations of rule-breaking and called for Ms Gray to be allowed to collect the facts and complete her inquiry in peace.“Sue Gray is acting independently, she is leading this piece of work,” Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson has insisted, sailing past the inconvenient truth that she must ultimately report to Michael Gove.“Under the terms of reference she is able to speak to who she wishes and investigate as she sees fit to ascertain the facts.”She has, reportedly, already used that freedom to speak to Mr Johnson.But her assignment seems to get more complicated by the day as more and more revelations continue to come to light on the front pages of Britain’s newspapers, carrying sordid tales of staffers being sent out to Co-op to fill suitcases with bottles of wine and drunken revellers staggering out into the garden of the prime minister’s official residence and breaking his infant son’s swing set.At the outset, Mr Johnson was not thought to have been in attendance at any of the “gatherings” in question but now we know, by his own admission, that he was at the 20 May 2020 garden party, even if he did “implicitly believe it was a work event”.His estranged former adviser, Dominic Cummings, who also notoriously broke the rules that spring with a visit to Barnard Castle in County Durham, has since alleged that the PM did know about that party in advance and ignored warnings that it ought to be shut down, which, if true, would mean Mr Johnson had lied to Parliament and therein violated the ministerial code, typically a resigning issue.So not only is establishing the precise narrative of what went on when and who knew about it tricky enough, the veteran inquisitor also faces the prospect of incurring further anger from voters if she is ultimately deemed to have been too lenient and carried out a “whitewash” on the PM’s behalf.Equally, delivering a damning verdict would mean overtly criticising the moral conduct of senior ministers and civil service colleagues with whom she has long worked and may retain friendly personal ties.As such, she is widely expected to err on the side of caution and conclude that poor judgement was evident in abundance but that nothing criminal took place, keenly aware that it is beyond her remit to recommend the resignation of a British prime minister.Sir David Normington, a former Whitehall permanent secretary, summed up the complexity of her situation when he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “She will be very aware that she has the reputation and possibly the careers of senior civil servants and possibly of the prime minister in her hands, and that is a very difficult position to be in, however fair and fearless and rigorous you are.”But, by all accounts, if anyone can walk that tightrope, it is Ms Gray, nicknamed “the woman who runs the country” and “deputy God” by MPs Oliver Letwin and Paul Flynn respectively.“Sue has been there for so long, she knows everything that anybody has ever done wrong,” ex-Cabinet Office special adviser Polly Mackenzie told the BBC’s Profile programme in 2017.Enjoying a reputation for diligence, Ms Gray is also so discreet that even her own precise age is disputed.She is either 63 or 64, did not attend university and has served in the civil service since the late 1970s, barring a career break during the 1980s when she abandoned Westminster to run a pub called The Cove in Newry, Northern Ireland, with her husband, a country singer named Bill Conlon.“If a pub landlady doesn’t know what a party is, who will?” a rather wry family friend told The Daily Mail’s Michael Crick recently.According to her biography on the government website, she has worked in the departments of transport, health and work and pensions “covering a range of roles which included both policy and front line delivery”.Subsequently joining the Cabinet Office in the late 1990s, Ms Gray eventually became director general of propriety and ethics from 2012 to 2018.It was in that guise that she carried out a number of high-profile inquiries into the likes of defence secretary Liam Fox, ex-chief whip Andrew Mitchell over “plebgate”, and Damian Green, Theresa May’s deputy prime minister, who was dismissed after he was found to have been “misleading” in a statement made to police regarding pornography on his office computer in 2008.As The Independent’s Sean O’Grady writes, Mr Mitchell has since been highly complimentary about his one-time interrogator, commenting: “I have always found her to be extremely straightforward, very easy to deal with; she’s got a great sense of humour and she is clear-cut and doesn’t shilly-shally around.”It was also in relation to this period as ethics chief that the former BBC Newsnight journalist Chris Cook complained that Ms Gray was “notorious for her determination not to leave a document trail” and had assisted departments to “fight disclosures” in the shape of freedom of information requests.“If the government feels it has to get rid of a minister, she will give them cover to do that. If a government really wants to keep someone, she’ll find a way to do that,” he said.She served as permanent secretary to the Northern Irish executive’s department of finance on secondment from the Cabinet Office between 2018 and 2021 before returning to occupy her present role last May, reportedly frustrated to miss out on the top job in the Northern Irish civil service and speculating to the BBC: “Perhaps I was too much of a challenger, or a disrupter.”Many will be willing her to show some of that same spirit as she rattles out her Partygate dossier this week. More

Boris Johnson must change the “culture” of Downing Street after a series of allegations that staff partied during Covid lockdown restrictions, has foreign secretary Liz Truss said.The foreign secretary she was “100 per cent” behind Boris Johnson and wanted him to continue in the job, as she batted away questions about her own leadership ambitions.“There are clearly concerning reports, and there clearly needs to be a change in culture,” said Ms Truss on BBC Breakfast ahead of the imminent release of civil servant Sue Gray’s report into social gatherings.“We need to get the results of the report, we need to look at the results and fix the issues there are,” she said, urging MPs and others to avoid “speculation”.Asked if she was interested in replacing him, Ms Truss told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I want the prime minister to continue in his job, he’s doing a great job.” The foreign secretary said: “I absolutely take the prime minister at his word.” Asked if she would support him “come what may”, she added: “Absolutely.”The release of Ms Gray’s investigation into gatherings at No 10 and Whitehall departments was “fairly imminent”, Ms Truss said on Wednesday morning – confirming the prime minister was yet to receive it from the Cabinet Office.But Ms Truss also indicated there could be “security issues” which mean parts of the Gray report are “problematic to publish”.Asked whether the PM may have to resign if he was found to have misled parliament over events, the senior cabinet minister said Mr Johnson had already apologised for attending drinks gathering at No 10.And in an apparent dig at chancellor Rishi Sunak – who had skipped Ms Johnson’s apology in the Commons – she added: “I was with him in the Commons chamber when he did that.”Fellow cabinet minister Jacob-Rees Mogg has claimed there would have to be a general election if Mr Johnson was ousted by his party. But Ms Truss dismissed the idea as “complete hypothetical speculation”.The minister said she did not attend any alleged rule-breaking parties in Downing Street, nor was she invited. Asked on Sky News: “Did you go to any parties?”, she said: “I didn’t.” And to the question: “Were you ever invited?”, she said: “No.”It comes as junior minister Conor Burns sought to defend the PM by arguing that he had been “ambushed with a cake” during his No 10 birthday gathering held during lockdown restrictions.Labour MPs Chris Bryant has warned that Mr Johnson could attempt “jiggery-pokery” by publishing Ms Gray’s report just before PMQs to avoid being questioned on its findings.The chairman of the Committee on Standards of Public life said the PM was likely intending to “manipulate parliament” once the report by the senior civil servant is handed over to No10.Mr Bryant also told the Today programme that people have built up “very high expectations” about the report and are wrongly interpreting it as a “quasi-judicial” process – reminding the public that Ms Gray is “reporting to her boss”.Meanwhile, Ms Truss said Britain is not ruling out sanctions targeted at president Vladimir Putin in person if Russia invades Ukraine. Asked about possible sanctions on Mr Putin, Ms Truss told Sky: “We’re not ruling anything out.”She also LBC that Britain was “ready to go on sanctions” and would legislate for more severe sanctions against Moscow. “We’re coordinating with our allies, but of course we need to make sure everybody is ready to put those sanctions in place.”Asked why she had been photographed in a tank during a recent trip to visit British troops in Estonia, Ms Truss said she had been “showing our strong support from freedom and democracy”. More