Downing Street parties: Sue Gray submits version of long-awaited report to Boris Johnson

Sue Gray has handed Boris Johnson a version of her inquiry into allegations of lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street, the Cabinet Office said.

A carefully-worded statement suggested the “update” to the Prime Minister from the senior civil servant was not the full report after she was told to pare it back by Scotland Yard.

The Prime Minister insisted earlier “I stick absolutely to what I’ve said in the past” when questioned about his reported denials of any wrongdoing to Tory MPs.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson is driven from Downing Street. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty ImagesPrime Minister Boris Johnson is driven from Downing Street. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is driven from Downing Street. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Parliamentary sources said they were expecting the Prime Minister to make a statement to the House of Commons some time after 3:30pm on Monday.

Downing Street has committed to publishing the report before Mr Johnson addresses MPs, though the Cabinet Office is yet to confirm when it will be handed over and further delays cannot be ruled out.

Ms Gray’s report was thrown into disarray when Scotland Yard last week requested that she makes only “minimal reference” to events that officers are investigating.

Asked about warnings the inquiry will be a “whitewash” because of the changes, Mr Johnson said: “You are going to have to wait and see both what Sue says and, of course, what the Met says.”

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The Prime Minister has publicly said he is “deeply sorry for misjudgements” surrounding events in No.10, but insisted no one warned him a garden party in the first lockdown would be against the rules.

In private, however, he is said to have told Conservative MPs who may oust him as Prime Minister over the saga that he has done nothing wrong.

“You’re going to have to wait and see the outcome of the investigations but, of course, I stick absolutely to what I’ve said in the past,” he said, when asked about those remarks during a visit to a freeport in Tilbury, Essex.

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick announced last week that officers have launched an investigation into alleged Covid-breaches in Downing Street and wider Government after being handed information from the Gray inquiry.

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But it threw the publication of the Whitehall report into disarray when the force controversially asked Ms Gray to limit what she writes about events under investigation by officers.

Concerned over the prospect of jeopardising a police inquiry, Ms Gray was understood to have complied with the Met’s request.

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