The long-awaited Sue Gray report into lockdown breaches should be handed over to Downing Street next week. The Metropolitan Police finished its partygate investigation today (Thursday, May 19) with a total of 126 fines issued and there is no barrier to the report being published.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been told he faces no further action after being fined for an event on his 56th birthday. Scotland Yard said on Thursday it had issued fixed-penalty notices (FPNs) to 83 people at events in Downing Street and across Whitehall spanning eight separate days.
The Met’s acting deputy commissioner Helen Ball said it was possible people will receive fines in the next 48 hours. And she said 28 people had received between two and five fines.
“We have no objections at all to Sue Gray publishing her report and she will make her decisions now as to the next steps she wants to take, I’m sure,” she added.
The conclusion of Operation Hillman into breaches spanning 11 months paves the way for the potentially damaging publication of senior civil servant Sue Gray’s inquiry. Conservative former chief whip Mark Harper joined Labour and the Liberal Democrats in calling for Ms Gray’s report to be published swiftly.
No 10 said it will publish the report “as soon as possible”, with officials expecting Ms Gray is most likely to hand it over next week. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Sue Gray will complete her work and then hand that over and then we will publish that as soon as possible.
"That has not happened yet. So in effect, timings are a matter for her, still, in terms of when she completes her report.”
Asked if the intention is to publish the report in the form it is received, he said: “As received, yes.”
Scotland Yard said 48 women received a total of 73 FPNs, while 35 men received a total of 53. One of the dates in which fines were issued for was November 13 2020, a date in which police investigated two events, including one in the Prime Minister’s Downing Street flat.
But the Met has not clarified whether a fine was issued over the flat gathering, or whether fines on that day related to the leaving do for communications director Lee Cain, at which Mr Johnson reportedly made a speech.
It was clear however that fines were issued for the “bring your own booze” party held in the Downing Street garden on May 20 2020. At the Met’s last update on May 12 the force had made referrals for more than 100 FPNs to the Acro Criminal Records Office.
Scotland Yard declined to identify anyone involved in the investigation but disclosed that it cost around £460,000. A team of 12 detectives examined 345 documents, including emails, door logs, diary entries, witness statements and 204 questionnaires.
They also examined 510 photographs and CCTV images. There were no interviews under caution, with officers instead relying on answers to questionnaires.
Six separate types of offending were identified, including breaching rules for holding an indoor gathering of multiple people, including when London was under Tier 4 restrictions.
Ms Ball added: “There is no doubt that the pandemic impacted all of us in so many ways and strong feelings and opinions have been expressed on this particular issue. Our investigation was thorough and impartial and was completed as quickly as we could, given the amount of information that needed to be reviewed and the importance of ensuring that we had strong evidence for each FPN referral.
“This investigation is now complete.”
Sir Keir Starmer repeated his call for Mr Johnson to resign, for setting a culture of “industrial-scale law-breaking” in No 10. The Labour leader told reporters in Leeds: “What I want to see now is the full Sue Gray report published, there’s no further hiding places for the Prime Minister on that.”
