DAMNING photographs in the Sue Gray report will show that Boris Johnson “lied to the Commons and possibly the cops”, Dominic Cummings has said.
The former aide to the Prime Minister said that the pictures will likely be published within the next 48 hours ahead of the report itself being released.
Gray was reportedly handed more than 300 images to the Metropolitan Police after they launched the probe into Covid-19 rule breaking in Downing Street and Whitehall.
It is understood that the full Gray report will contain photographs, according to ITV’s Robert Peston, but Cummings has suggested they may be leaked before the report is put in the public sphere.
It comes after junior Downing Street staff received multiple fixed penalty notices while Johnson only received one, reportedly causing fury amongst Number 10 staff as he had presided over the rule-breaking.
With the report set to be released on Tuesday or Wednesday, Downing Street had briefed on Sunday and Monday that a controversial secret meeting between the PM and civil servant was arranged by Gray. By noon, Number 10 had back tracked and admitted that it was their officials who instigated the meeting ahead of the report’s publication.
Cummings, referring to the photographs held by officials, said: “One of the consequences is that I expect photos of the PM will emerge very quickly, within the next 24-48 hours.”
Writing in his latest blog, the former Vote Leave chief said: “Any reasonable person looking at some of these photos will only be able to conclude that the PM obviously lied to the Commons, and possibly to the cops, and there is no reasonable story for how others were fined for event X but not him.”
Cummings also criticised the Met Police for failing to investigate the PM for every event he attended - when others at them received fines.
Cummings added: “How has he not been fined more? It’s not because the PM’s presence is in doubt: multiple officials have told the cops he was at X or Y event that the cops have defined ‘unlawful’ and given the cops photos, so the cops know he was there.
“Part of the reason is that for some events the police simply have not investigated, haven’t asked him about X or Y.”
Downing Street said the Johnson-Gray meeting was about the “publication and timing” of her report.
Scottish Greens health spokesperson Gillian Mackay said that it was time for Johnson to "finally take responsibility" and resign.
She said: “These claims are shocking, but, if there are photos, they will come as no surprise to anyone.
"We already know that while the country was in lockdown and people were separated from their loved ones in hospitals and at funerals, Boris Johnson and his colleagues were holding parties and treating Downing Street like a frat house.
"We also know that the Prime Minister has repeatedly lied to the public and to Parliament, and that he’s the first PM in history to be found guilty of a crime. Nothing in Sue Gray's report can change this.
"If the PM had even a shred of dignity or integrity he would have resigned months ago. Every day that he is in office is an insult to the millions of people who had their lives turned upside down by the pandemic.
Number 10 denied that meeting with the PM lessened the independent nature of Gray’s investigation, with the pair also having met before her interim report was published in January.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “I’ve made the point that Sue Gray is acting independently in this process. She is able to decide herself which meetings she does or does not wish to have.”
Asked how many times Johnson and Gray had met, the spokesman replied: “I don’t know definitely. I think they met around the time of the interim report publication, which was reported at the time.
“I’m not aware of any further ones.”
Asked if the meetings between the pair could create the perception that Gray’s report is not fully independent, the No 10 spokesman said: “Again, I point you to the coverage of the interim report which certainly didn’t suggest a lack of independence.
“And I think it is then for the public to judge following the conclusion and publication of the report itself.”
