Sue Gray – or just plain ‘Sue’, as the prime minister revealingly kept on calling her in the Commons – has finally produced her report. It’s quietly devastating.
At a time when the rules said you and I couldn’t gather, not even for a funeral, staff at No. 10 held regular parties and got so drunk that cleaners had to clean up vomit on the carpet and wine stains up the wall. Dozens of empty bottles were left scattered around.
The gatherings were planned. Staff sent out invites. These people knew they were breaking the rules. After all, they had written them. And they tried to cover their tracks because they knew they were breaking the rules. Remember Allegra Stratton? She actually laughed about how they’d been breaking the rules. She resigned, but Johnson is still there because the culprit says that he knew nothing about it.
I bet he never bought a round – he’s that kind of guy – but he encouraged the gatherings, he witnessed the gatherings, he attended the gatherings, he poured wine at the gatherings and he raised a glass at the gatherings.
Perhaps worst of all, when the cleaners and the security staff, all of whom were on much lower salaries, told these people they were breaking the rules, they laughed at them and told them where to go. As Sue Gray put it, she saw several examples of lack of respect and poor treatment of the cleaning and security staff.
All of which is despicable. Downing Street under Johnson has clearly been a cesspit, full of entitled, arrogant bullies. And at the top of the tree sits Johnson. He says he’s ‘sorry’. Well, he didn’t sound it as he trotted out excuse after excuse.
He actually claimed that Downing Street is so big and there are so many staff that he couldn’t possibly know what was going on. Even though it was under his roof, he had to walk past the parties to get to his flat and he attended them. He pleaded that his poor staff had a difficult job.
How offensive is that to the doctors and nurses and hospital cleaners who kept on working long hours through the pandemic but didn’t have ‘wine-time’ at 4pm on a Friday?
The truth is, he’s only sorry at all because he got caught. It’s not just about his lying now. He’s got his MPs lying for him too. And that brings shame on them all.
