The long-awaited report into a series of parties held inside and around Downing Street throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has finally been released.
It details excessive alcohol consumption by staffers at the heart of the UK's government and a litany of bad behaviour, including one staff member getting so drunk that they vomited, another two getting into an altercation with each other and "multiple examples" of staff being rude to security and cleaning staff during the boozy events.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson — who last month was fined by police for breaching the law by attending one of the events — has said he was "humbled" by the report and that he had "learned a lesson" during an apology to the House of Commons on Wednesday.
He has faced renewed calls from the opposition, and even some within his own party, to resign as prime minister.
But is he likely to do so?
What was in the 'Partygate' report?
The investigation into the gatherings during COVID-19 restrictions — conducted by respected senior civil servant Sue Gray — began in early December 2021 after a series of media reports about parties that had allegedly happened on government premises throughout 2020 and 2021.
Its release was delayed several times due to a separate investigation carried out by the Metropolitan Police Service, which concluded last week after it handed out 126 fines to 83 different people over eight different events.
In the report, released on Wednesday, Ms Gray said many of the events investigated "should not have been allowed to happen".
She said that junior civil servants believed their involvement in some of the events was permitted, due to the fact senior leaders were in attendance.
In one party — held in June 2020 at the Cabinet Secretary's private office — pizza, prosecco and a karaoke machine were all brought in by staff members.
The report said the event lasted "for a number of hours" and that there was "excessive alcohol consumption" by some individuals, that saw one person throw up and a minor altercation happen between two others.
It said the event broke up in stages, with some staff members leaving at 9pm, while the last member of staff who stayed around to clean up eventually left the office after 3am.
'We seem to have got away with it'
Another party — the infamous "bring your own booze" (BYOB) event that happened in May 2020 — saw between 30 and 40 people gather in the garden of Number 10 after Boris Johnson's own private secretary sent an email to more than 100 people inviting them to the drinks.
Just an hour before the garden drinks, then-culture secretary Oliver Dowden had told the nation in a press conference that they could only meet in twos outside, as per the restrictions at the time.
The report said Mr Johnson had attended the event for around 30 minutes "to thank staff" before returning to his office.
The following day, Mr Johnson's private secretary, Martin Reynolds, responded to a special adviser, thanking him for organising the gathering.
Mr Reynolds, the UK's former ambassador to Libya, has since resigned from Downing Street and now works in the Foreign Office.
The report also detailed two leaving parties for Number 10 staff held the night before the funeral of Prince Philip in April 2021, where alcohol was provided.
The events merged to a bigger event in the garden of Number 10 that saw individuals party into the early hours of the following morning and a child's swing used by Mr Johnson's son broken by a staff member.
At the time, gatherings of more than two people indoors and more than six people outdoors were banned, but exceptions included where gathering was "reasonably necessary … for work purposes".
What does report mean for Boris Johnson?
When the media reports of the parties first broke, Mr Johnson initially said he had no knowledge of any parties that had happened at Downing Street. When more revelations came out, that changed to him being "repeatedly assured" that no COVID-19 rules had been broken.
In January this year he apologised, after admitting he had attended the "Bring your own booze" (BYOB) event, and then last month offered a full apology after he was fined for attending a birthday party held for him in June 2020.
However, throughout the Partygate saga, Mr Johnson has maintained that, in every instance, he believed the events he attended were merely extensions of work and, therefore, they did not contravene the COVID-19 rules at the time.
While opposition parties had been calling for Mr Johnson to resign since the scandal broke, it was not until mid-January — when the BYOB story broke — that those from his own side began calling for the Prime Minister to step down, a call Mr Johnson has so far resisted.
A handful of Conservative MPs subsequently sent in letters to the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbenches saying they had lost confidence in the Prime Minister, but it was short of the 54 letters needed to trigger a vote of no-confidence.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late March, several withdrew their letters, stating that now was not the time to be changing leaders.
In a further boost to Mr Johnson's survival, Ms Gray's report also made note of changes that had taken place at Downing Street and the Cabinet Office in organisation and management she said aimed to create "clearer lines of leadership and accountability".
For now, Mr Johnson appears safe in his role, although a parliamentary investigation into whether he lied to parliament about breaking the rules still looms large, and is set to begin now that the police and civil service investigations have concluded.
