An investigation into COVID-19 lockdown parties that were held at British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street complex, was on Monday, January 31, 2022, suggested to have had some of the events that should have not been allowed. The report further identified leadership lapses.
According to the senior civil servant, Sue Gray, on the 12-page of the report, said, “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,” referring to Johnson’s office.
The report stated that “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.”
Johnson, facing the gravest threat to his premiership over the alleged lockdown-busting parties at his residence and Downing Street office, has so far weathered growing calls to resign by asking angry lawmakers to wait for the report by senior civil servant Gray.
“We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the Prime Minister,” a Cabinet Office spokesperson, Simon Case had said earlier.
“The findings will be published on gov.uk and made available in the House of Commons Library this afternoon and the prime minister will then provide a statement to the house when people have had the opportunity to read and consider the findings,” Mr. Case added.
Anger over double-standards
The public and political anger over what has been termed the “partygate scandal” in the UK and the apparent double standards has put Johnson’s position in jeopardy, prompting speculation he could be ejected or forced to resign.
However, doubts about Johnson’s immediate future lessened after London’s Metropolitan Police on Friday, January 28, 2022, said they had opened an investigation into some of the events to ascertain whether criminal offences had been committed.
They asked for the report to make only “minimal reference” to those events.
Gray investigated 16 separate gatherings and said she was limited in what she could say in her long-awaited report after the police probe was launched.
But in the 12-page report made public today (Monday, January 31, 2022) she decried “excessive consumption of alcohol” on various occasions in Downing Street, at a time when the British public was mostly banned from social gatherings.
The police are looking into 12 of the events, with the possibility that any of those attending, including Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, could be fined for breaching COVID-19 regulations in force over the past two years.
Johnson’s political opponents have accused him of misleading parliament by insisting the events at Downing Street were within the rules at the time and were work-related.
Usually, in the British community, ministers found to have broken the rules are normally under pressure to resign but earlier Monday, January 31, 2022, Johnson told reporters: “I stick absolutely to what I’ve said in the past…You’re going to have to wait and see the outcome of the investigations.”
There were weeks of media reports about more than a dozen gatherings, including a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden, having provoked a wide public uproar, fuelling the perception that the political elite failed to abide by the tough lockdown rules they (authorities) set for the rest of the country.
Johnson has apologised for errors that were made and said he attended one garden party thinking it was a work event but has rejected calls to quit.
Nevertheless, collapsing opinion poll ratings have frightened lawmakers in his party, raising the prospect that they could trigger a confidence vote in his leadership.
Already, several people have publicly called for him to quit his job.
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