Boris Johnson rejects calls to resign after scathing Sue Gray report on lockdown parties

Boris Johnson rejected calls to resign on Monday after Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, published a long-awaited and highly critical report on party culture at the heart of the UK government.

Gray’s report was heavily rewritten before publication, at the request of the Metropolitan Police, excising criticism over the most serious allegations of Covid lockdown-breaching parties.

But even in its watered-down form, the report was scathing about “failures of leadership and judgment” in Number 10 and the Cabinet Office.

Johnson, who has refused to acknowledge that parties took place, faced allegations in the House of Commons that he misled MPs, because the Gray report confirms that numerous rule-breaking events may have been held.

Sir Keir Starmer, Labor party leader, said the report showed that Johnson was “unfit for office”, while Theresa May, former Conservative prime minister, said Johnson either did not understand the Covid rules he had made, did not read them or did not think they applied to Number 10.

The prime minister said he was “sorry” and vowed to shake up his Number 10 operation, to come up with a new code of conduct for officials and advisers and to strengthen cabinet government.

Gray’s report focused on 16 separate alleged breaches of pandemic lockdown rules. She said that all but four of them were now the subject of a Met Police criminal investigation, including a party in Johnson’s Downing Street flat.

Her report confirms that police are probing a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden on May 20 2020 along with “a gathering in the 10 Downing Street flat” on the evening of November 13 2020 to mark Dominic Cummings’ sacking as the prime minister’s chief adviser.

Questioned in the House of Commons on December 8 whether he would confirm that the November 13 event happened, Johnson replied: “No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”

Ian Blackford, SNP leader, claimed on Monday that Johnson had “misled parliament”. Meanwhile, in a sign of a darkening mood among Tory MPs, former chief whip Andrew Mitchell announced that he was withdrawing his support from the prime minister.

The Gray report noted “a serious failure” to observe the high standards expected of those in positions of authority.

Gray said “too little thought” had been given to whether the parties held in the midst of a lockdown were appropriate and some of the behavior around them was “difficult to justify”.

The report stated that new steps should be taken to prevent “the excessive consumption of alcohol” in government offices and added that some staff were inhibited in raising concerns about what was going on.

“A number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way they did,” Gray concluded.

Tory rebels will now have to decide whether to move against Johnson. A total of 54 MPs, 15 per cent of the parliamentary party, could trigger a leadership challenge if they request a confidence vote.

One ally of the prime minister said a cabinet reshuffle was expected, along with a clear-out of party whips – Johnson’s parliamentary enforcers. “It won’t be a knee-jerk reaction, but change is coming,” said one senior MP.

Gray’s report was watered down after the Metropolitan Police requested that it should make only “minimal reference” to the specific allegations of lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall it is investigating.

The intervention by Dame Cressida Dick, Met chief, last week drew claims from the Liberal Democrats and SNP that the force was involved in a “stitch up” to delay the publication of Gray’s full investigation into parties.

Over the weekend, Gray was forced to rewrite her report to comply with the Met’s request, before handing over the new version to Johnson on Monday morning. “The Met have muddied the waters,” said an ally of the prime minister.

Officials with knowledge of Gray’s report say it was rewritten in advance of it being handed to Johnson. She had not simply gone through the initial report with a black marker pen.

It is unknown whether the full report will be eventually published after the Met’s inquiries have concluded. Whitehall officials said the decision would lie with Downing Street.