BORIS Johnson has received Sue Gray’s report on lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
The report is highly critical of the culture in No 10 which led to the repeated violations of Covid restrictions over the course of 2020 and 2021.
As well as a nearly 40-page report, the documents handed to No 10 include nine photos related to partygate incidents, including pictures of the Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Johnson will make a statement to MPs in the Commons later on Wednesday.
Today, has been made available on the Cabinet Office website. The document can be found here. It can be downloaded onto computer and mobile devices.
Gray's full publication into the parties was sidelined as the Metropolitan Police conducted its own partygate probe, dubbed Operation Hillman.
The force concluded its investigation on May 19, with 126 fines being issued in total to 83 people.
Johnson received one for an event held on his 56th birthday and was told he would face no further action over other gatherings covered by the inquiry.
Earlier this week, two new photographs apparently depicting separate gatherings at Downing Street were published.
The Mirror, meanwhile, published a picture showing a man standing at a table with nine bottles of wine and prosecco, which was claimed to have been taken at a gathering to mark the final press briefing by Johnson’s former official spokesperson James Slack on November 17, 2020.
On Tuesday evening, the BBC broadcast a Panorama programme which featured three anonymous individuals describing in detail what they witnessed at regular rule-breaking events during coronavirus restrictions.
They said events were “every week”, with invitations for press office drinks listed in the diary as “Wine-Time Friday”.
On Tuesday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wrote to the acting head of the Metropolitan Police Sir Stephen House to explain the force’s decisions over partygate after pictures emerged of Johnson drinking at a gathering for which he was not fined.
