Latest on Boris Johnson ‘Partygate’ probe report

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask senior civil servant Sue Gray to update her report once a police investigation has concluded and will publish that update, a spokesperson for Johnson said in a statement.

The Metropolitan Police said earlier that it is currently investigating eight of the 12 parties at Downing Street considered in the Sue Gray report. 

The Downing Street statement said that it “would not be appropriate to comment further while the Met’s investigation is ongoing.”

“But, at the end of the process, the Prime Minister will ask Sue Gray to update her work in light of what is found. He will publish that update,” the spokesperson added.

The Prime Minister emphasized that “we must not judge an ongoing investigation,” his spokesperson said, adding that his focus is on “addressing the general findings” of Monday’s report.  

Police investigating parties at Downing Street have been given more than 300 photos and 500 pieces of paper, Metropolitan Police Commander Catherine Roper said, according to PA Media.

Officers are probing at least 12 events, according to Sue Gray’s report.

“If following an investigation, officers believe it is appropriate, because the Covid regulations have been breached without a reasonable excuse, a fixed penalty notice would normally be issued,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

“Once the penalty is paid, the matter is considered closed. Alternatively individuals may decide to dispute the notice. In these circumstances officers will consider whether to pursue the matter in a magistrates’ court,” the statement continues.

CNN’s Max Foster contributed reporting to this post.

Reports of parties in the heart of Britain’s government have sparked fury in the country for weeks – and that outrage peaked on Monday, when an official report returned damning findings.

Some aspects of the parties, which have been splashed across front pages since the beginning of December, might seem trivial or even amusing.

Garden parties. DJs. Suitcases full of alcohol. Staff playing on a swing erected for the Prime Minister’s infant child.

But the allegations matter not so much because of what took place, but when.

Boris Johnson’s government imposed the strictest peacetime restrictions on British people that any have ever seen. For months, people could not see their family members – even outside, from a distance. They could leave their homes once a day; life events like weddings were put on hold.

Most difficult of all, people were banned from visiting family members as they died with Covid-19 in hospital. Even funerals were limited to immediate family, and attendees could not hug each other as they mourned.

It was a hardship endured by many: the UK has seen more than 150,000 deaths since the pandemic began, more than anywhere else in Europe.

So when it came to light that Johnson and his staff had attended gatherings while imposing such strict rules on the British public, it struck a chord with the British public that has destroyed the government’s standing in opinion polls and left Johnson within an inch of his political life.

Deepening the scandal was Johnson’s many responses on the matter. At first, in early December, he denied that a party had taken place in Downing Street and insisted that all guidance was followed. Just eight weeks later, 12 parties are under police investigation and a report has condemned his leadership.

Fewer than one in four (23%) of British adults now say Johnson has what it takes to be a good prime minister, while two out of three (64%) say he does not, a new Ipsos Mori poll released Monday found. 

Johnson’s rating on the question has fallen to its lowest level in Ipsos Mori polling since he won a landslide election in 2019.

Even during 2021, when Johnson’s government enjoyed popularity on the back of a successful vaccine rollout, the Prime Minister came under criticism for the view that his government followed one rule while the public followed another.

The past two months have made it even harder for Johnson to refute that claim – and threaten to wreck public trust in his government.

Boris Johnson opened his statement in the House of Commons by saying “sorry.”

He said he was sorry for the things that he and his government “simply didn’t get right.” He said it is no use defending what happened in Downing Street as “within the rules.” He said he will make changes to the Downing Street operation and that he understood the anger felt by members of the public.

Then he went on the offensive.

He told lawmakers that “yes, we can be trusted.” He listed what he perceived were his achievements, among them getting Brexit done, delivering a vaccine rollout faster than anywhere in Europe.

Then things got very ugly.

Leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said that Johnson was a man who had throughout his life “damaged everything and everyone around him.”

Johnson responded by attacking Starmer’s time as Director of Public Prosecution, saying that he had failed to prosecute Britain’s most notorious paedophile.

Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party, was thrown from the House for calling the Prime Minister a liar.

Members of his own party publicly withdrew their support for the Prime Minister.

Johnson has historically been rewarded whenever he takes a bullish, aggressive line against his opponents. However, this time might be different.

Government advisors are seriously worried that Johnson’s non-apology will not come across to the public as a man who understands what has gone wrong, but a callous man who is more interested in clinging to power than being held responsible.

It’s been a ferocious, undignified hour in British politics. Previous occasions where debate has reached such anger have been on matters of war and peace; life and death.

Ahead of his statement, Conservative sources said Johnson’s fate would rest on the balance between contrition and kicking the can.

As things stand, the Prime Minister has spent significantly more time attacking his opponents and boasting about his successes in office than apologizing for an offence that could still bring down his government.

Boris Johnson is responding to angry questions by MPs by saying they must continue to wait for the findings of an ongoing police investigation – a defensive line that follows weeks of claiming they must wait for Sue Gray to report her conclusions.

He is being met with loud jeers every time he resorts to that defence.

“The Prime Minister thinks this is fine. So just how bad do things have to be before he takes personal responsibility, does what everybody in this country wants him to do, and resign?” Labour MP Angela Eagle asked.

Boris Johnson is being lambasted from all sides in Parliament, as he bats back furious interventions from MPs.

Andrew Mitchell, a Conservative backbencher, was intensely critical of Johnson and said “he no longer enjoys my support.”

Johnson could face a vote of no confidence if enough Tories call for one.

Mitchell’s comments followed an angry rebuke from Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor in Downing Street.

Ian Blackford, the leader of the Scottish National Party, accused Johnson of misleading Parliament over a party in his Downing Street apartment – causing a brief uproar in the Commons, as some Conservatives called for him to be removed from the chamber.

Blackford said “nobody believed” Johnson’s denials that he knowingly attended a garden party.

He said he has “wilfully misled Parliament” – but amended the word to “inadvertently” after the Speaker intervened.

“This murky business is tainting everything around it,” Blackford said.

Theresa May, whom Boris Johnson replaced as Prime Minister, criticized Johnson in the wake of the Gray report.

She told lawmakers that Johnson “imposed significant restrictions on freedoms” of British citizens.

“They had a right to expect their Prime Minister to have read the rules, to understand the meaning of the rules,” she said.

She told the House: “Either (Johnson) had not read the rules, or didn’t understand what they meant, or they didn’t think the rules applied to Number 10. Which was it?”

Responding to Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer condemned “the bonfire that is his leadership,” and called on Conservative lawmakers to “spare the country” by removing him.

Johnson attacked Starmer for discussing a police investigation, and pivoted again to discussing the Ukraine border crisis and his government’s Brexit policy.

“I have complete confidence in the police … I don’t propose to offer any more commentary about it,” Johnson said.

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer is responding to Johnson’s speech, telling lawmakers “there is evidence of serious and flagrant breaches of lockdown.”

“There can be no doubt that the Prime Minister himself is now subject to criminal investigation,” Starmer said.

He urged the government to publish the full report when it is ready, but added that “it is already clear that the report discloses the most damning conclusion possible.”

Starmer repeated calls for Johnson to resign, calling the PM a “man without shame.”

Boris Johnson is touting his government’s actions on Brexit and crime as he attempts to draw a line under the parties scandal – but he has been met with jeers from opposition MPs.

He said he “gets” public anger, but that his focus is now “getting on with the job.”

“I get it, and I will fix it,” Johnson said.

Boris Johnson is addressing MPs after the Sue Gray report was published. “Firstly I want to say sorry,” he said.

“I’m sorry for the things we simply didn’t get right,” he added. “This pandemic was hard for everyone … I understand the anger that people feel.”

Johnson said the government “must look ourselves in the mirror” and added he would make changes in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson is speaking to MPs, and he’ll face a grilling from the opposition afterwards. You can follow events on this page.

Boris Johnson is about to speak to the House of Commons after the publication of Sue Gray’s report.

The report was far more critical than many were expecting and revealed that 12 gatherings attended by government officials that took place during Covid restrictions have met the threshold for police investigation.

The big question right now: Can he survive?

For what it’s worth, ahead of the Prime Minister’s address, here’s what his own lawmakers are thinking. The biggest Johnson skeptics are resigned to Johnson holding it on. They think he will kick the can down the road and grip onto power, no matter what damage it does to the governing Conservative party.

Moderates think Johnson’s short-term fate comes down to how apologetic he is. If they deem the PM not to have been sufficiently contrite, they will let him know at a meeting of backbenchers later today.

And those still supporting Johnson are very worried that their trigger-happy colleagues are ready to move against the Prime Minister without really thinking about what happens next.

Whatever happens, these next few hours could well be the best remembered of his entire time in office.

The Sue Gray report has raised questions about Boris Johnson’s past comments about lockdown parties.

One event is particularly notable: Gray writes that her inquiry probed “a gathering in the No 10 Downing Street flat” on November 13, 2020. That event is among those that police are also investigating, according to the report.

Johnson was asked about that gathering in Parliament on December 8. Here’s what was said:

Labour MP Catherine West: “Will the Prime Minister tell the House whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November?”
Boris Johnson: “No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”

MPs are not allowed to knowingly mislead Parliament, and doing so breaches the ministerial code. Here’s what the code says about misleading Parliament:

“It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister.”

Last week, at Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour Leader Keir Starmer asked Johnson if he would resign were he found to have misled Parliament.

Johnson replied: “Of course.”

If Johnson is found to have breached the code and does not offer to resign, it would be up to Conservative MPs to force him out through a vote of no confidence.

Sue Gray’s report into lockdown parties at Downing Street is “appalling and astonishing” and Boris Johnson should not continue as Prime Minister, the deputy leader of the opposition Labour party has said.

Angela Rayner told the BBC: “I don’t know how Boris Johnson has got the nerve to even turn up at Parliament today.”

“You think about the key workers who lost their lives over that period … it’s absolutely appalling and astonishing,” she said.

Monday’s release was not the entire report, and Rayner said “we haven’t even had the worst of it yet,” calling on Johnson to resign.

The Prime Minister “needs to go,” she said.

Sue Gray’s long-awaited report into coronavirus-era parties in government has arrived – and even in a brief and stripped-down format, it’s more damaging for Boris Johnson than many had expected.

Here are some of the key findings.

Police are investigating a gathering held for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s birthday in 2020, along with several other events in government, Sue Gray’s report suggests.

Gray said she investigated 16 events on 12 different days. She added that police are also looking at those events, with the exception of four.

They include a gathering on Johnson’s birthday, when the country was in lockdown.

The report has landed and it is a lot more critical than many had expected.

Despite the Metropolitan Police investigation pulling the teeth from Senior British civil servant Sue Gray’s investigation, she has left enough crumbs for Westminster to feed off — and for Boris Johnson to feel less than comfortable for the foreseeable future.

In her general findings, Gray says that there were “failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times. Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”

She also said that “some of the behavior surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify.”

Crucially, she has revealed that only four of the 16 gatherings initially referred for investigation as not reaching the threshold for investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police. One of the gatherings that reached the police threshold is the alleged birthday party for Johnson.

Gray finishes the report by saying that the police investigation “unfortunately” means she is “extremely limited in what I can say about those events and it is not possible at present to provide a meaningful report”.

It’s likely that those who want Johnson removed from power won’t move until we know a little more about the police investigation.

However, the fact that this update has been so damning is very worrying for Johnson. And he will learn later tonight — at a meeting of his backbenchers — exactly how angry his own lawmakers are and how secure his political future might be.

Sue Gray investigated 16 different gatherings that took place in the heart of government while Britain was under strict Covid-19 rules, the civil servant wrote in her stripped-back findings on Monday.

But details of the events were not included in the report, due to a police investigation that scuppered Gray’s probe.

“Failures of leadership” took place in Boris Johnson’s government that allowed parties to take place during Covid-19 restrictions, Sue Gray’s report says.

“At times it seems there was too little thought given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings, the risks they presented to public health and how they might appear to the public,” the report reads.

“There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times. Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”

Sue Gray’s report says that “against the backdrop of the pandemic, when the Government was asking citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify.”

“At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time,” it adds.

A version of Sue Gray’s report into parties in Boris Johnson’s government during coronavirus restrictions has been published.

We’ll post its key lines here.

Senior British civil servant Sue Gray’s report has been billed as make-or-break for Prime Minister Boris Johnson — a damning judgment that he broke his own pandemic rules could turn his party against him and force him from office.

But there are more questions than answers so far on Monday, thanks in large part to a late intervention last week by the Metropolitan Police.

Their own investigation means we won’t see Gray’s full findings today – and that leaves several areas of confusion on the road ahead.

How damning is today’s slimmed-down report? Gray is understood to have delivered some overarching findings to Downing Street, without details on several events that the police are probing. If this version of her investigation is underwhelming, the government will likely try to draw a line under the scandal. It’s unclear if that will wash with the British public, however, which has been united in anger over the allegations of parties while the rest of the country was living under strict restrictions.

On the other hand, if Gray’s conclusions are critical of Johnson, the scandal will only deepen — and anticipation for the full report will increase.

Will we ever see the full findings? Gray may decide to publish the full report once the police have finished their investigation. It was believed to be imminent when, last week, the Met said they would probe the parties and asked for “minimal reference” in Gray’s report to the gatherings they’re also looking at.

Downing Street has always said it will publish whatever Gray sends it, but on Monday a spokesperson said they will “keep under review” whether to put the full, unredacted report in the public domain.

If they do try to keep it from the public, they will have a political fight on their hands that would drag the scandal onward for days or weeks. The opposition Labour Party has demanded the full findings be published, as have some Conservatives, and it will be difficult to avoid the appearance of a cover-up if the long-promised inquest never sees the light of day.

What will Boris Johnson do? Johnson has apologized for some of the parties that were made public, but has sought to move the narrative onto the economy and the Ukraine-Russia border crisis in recent appearances in Parliament.

He will likely be hoping that Monday’s findings give him enough leeway to move on from the scandal, possibly by promising a reform of Downing Street culture but refusing to resign.

But he is certain to face questions on the scandal beyond Monday, regardless of what is made public.

Will this end Johnson’s premiership? That all depends on what the report says, who sees it, and which course of action Conservative lawmakers decide to take.

If 15% of the party’s MPs demand a vote of no confidence in Johnson, a poll will take place — and then a simple majority would force the leader out. A vote seemed to be edging closer in recent weeks as more allegations were made public, and a critical report could sway enough backbenchers to trigger one.

Downing Street confirmed that it will publish the slimmed-down version of the “Partygate” report it received today – but did not commit to releasing the full version, which is expected to arrive once London’s Metropolitan Police force has finished its investigation of government parties.

“Obviously we will need to consider what might be appropriate and we are discussing with the Cabinet Office team in due course about what might be appropriate, but at the moment it is unclear how the ongoing Met Police investigation might interact with any further work on that,” a spokesperson told reporters, according to PA Media.

“But obviously it’s something we will want to keep under review,” the spokesperson added.

Lawmakers across the political spectrum, including some inside Boris Johnson’s own party, have demanded that a full report is made public – and Johnson would attract loud criticism if he refuses to do so.

Boris Johnson will make a statement to MPs on the Sue Gray report at 3.30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. ET), a House of Commons spokesperson told CNN.

Boris Johnson commissioned the internal inquiry into “Partygate” after numerous reports of social events, mostly held at a time when Britons were banned from meeting their friends and relatives indoors, sent his premiership into crisis and led to calls from all quarters that he should resign.

But the report itself was plunged into turmoil last week when the Metropolitan Police said it too would investigate the parties.

Johnson was accused of attending some of the events, including a birthday party for himself in June 2020, when people from different households were not allowed to gather indoors, and a “bring your own booze” celebration that the Prime Minister claimed to have thought was a work event.

One party was even held in Downing Street the night before Prince Philip’s funeral. Coronavirus restrictions in force at the time meant that the Queen had to sit by herself in the chapel at Windsor Castle during the service. Johnson has since apologized to the Queen for the gathering.

The Cabinet Office said it has provided an “update” on its inquiry to Downing Street – but it remains unclear what form that update takes, and how detailed it is.

Sue Gray was expected to deliver a stripped-back report that withheld some of the most damning allegations of government parties, after the Metropolitan Police launched its own investigation and asked for Gray’s report to omit details on those it is probing.

Monday’s statement could mean that the redacted report is now with Prime Minister Boris Johnson – or it could imply that Gray has decided to only send an outline of her findings until she can publish the report in full.

Downing Street has “nothing further to add to the Cabinet Office statement,” a spokesperson told CNN on Monday. 

The comment immediately followed a statement from a Cabinet Office spokesperson, saying, “We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the Prime Minister.”

Britain’s embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been given an update on investigations into parties held at the heart of his government while the United Kingdom was living under strict coronavirus restrictions — but it remains unclear when the full findings of the inquiry will be made public.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the Prime Minister.”

Sue Gray is a senior British civil servant. She conducted the inquiry at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s request.

The probe has examined reports of various parties at Downing Street in 2020 and 2021 while the country was under strict Covid lockdown restrictions.

Gray, who is reported to be in her mid-60s, has led two previous reviews into the behavior of UK cabinet ministers, according to the PA media agency.