Sue Gray report live: PM issues apology in Commons statement

A limited version of the report into No 10 and Whitehall parties during lockdown has criticised a “serious failure” to observe the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government.

Sue Gray’s findings were published online as Boris Johnson faced MPs as he fights to save his premiership.

4.45pm

Watch: Ian Blackford ordered out of parliament for claiming Boris Johnson misled MPs

4.43pm

4.41pm

Watch: I get it and I will fix it: Boris Johnson reacts to Sue Gray report

4.39pm

Conservative MP Steve Baker asked the Prime Minister what his message is to the millions of people who “meticulously complied with all of the rules and suffered terribly for it”.

The MP for Wycombe said: “Millions of people took seriously a communications campaign, apparently designed by behavioural psychologists to bully, to shame and to terrify them into compliance with minute restrictions on their freedom.

“What is my right honourable friend’s central message to those people who meticulously complied with all of the rules and suffered terribly for it, including, I might say, those people whose mental health will have suffered appallingly as a result of the messages his Government was sending out?”

Boris Johnson replied: “I want to thank all those people for everything that they did, because together they helped us to control coronavirus and I think thanks to their amazing actions in coming forward to get vaccinated, we’re now in a far better position than many other countries around the world. So I have a massive debt of gratitude to all the people that he describes.”

4.37pm

Watch: Sir Keir Starmer urges Tory MPs to make decision on Johnson’s future

4.35pm

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

4.33pm

A man who was fined almost £2,000 for breaking lockdown rules has called for a refund and an apology after the release of the Sue Gray report.

Bryn Richards, a university student from Norwich, was charged £1,995 for participating in a gathering outdoors of more than two people in November 2020, during the UK’s second national lockdown.

The 38-year-old claimed he was arrested after interacting with participants of a libertarian, anti-lockdown march while out for a walk in the city, adding he was “caught in the crossfire, between the police and the protesters”.

“If any member of the public did what they did, they’d most assuredly have been fined, without any hesitation by the police,” he told PA.

“I had £2,000 seized from me for doing much less than what they did.

“Quite frankly, I want that money back, and I want a formal apology.”

4.30pm

Tory MP Tobias Ellwood tweeted: “The PM promised to publish the Sue Gray Report in full so Parliament and the British people could better appreciate the facts and draw their own conclusions.

“If the PM fails to publish the report in full then he will no longer have my support.”

4.28pm

The Prime Minister must show the “appropriate tone” demanded by the British public as he co-operates with the Metropolitan Police investigation into the Downing Street parties, one of his former ministers has said.

Ex-justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland said: “Saying sorry is very important but he will be judged by the deeds that he undertakes as a result. I heard today a proper acknowledgement that he needs to look in the mirror and I am glad to hear about reforms to the centre of Government that I think are timely, in fact they are overdue.

“Will he give me and the House this undertaking today, that in co-operating with the Metropolitan Police inquiry, he will show the appropriate tone and approach that I think the British public demand of him, and that as a person of serious purpose, who is up to the level of events, that is what they expect from you now, and that is what I will be expecting him to do.”

Boris Johnson replied: “I just want to stress that I have great admiration for the Metropolitan Police and full confidence in the police. I just suggest that they be allowed to get on with their job.”

4.27pm

4.26pm

The Prime Minister faced a demand from one of his backbenchers to publish the full Sue Gray report immediately.

Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) said: “May I advise him publicly what I have said to emissaries from his campaign team privately: that it is truly in his interest, in the Government’s interest, and in the national interest that he should insist on receiving the full, unredacted report immediately, as I believe he can, and that he should then publish the uncensored version without any further delay?”

Boris Johnson replied: “I think extensive legal advice has been taken on this point and Sue Gray has published everything that she thinks she can that is consistent with that advice.”

4.24pm

Conservative Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) said: “The back benches of the Conservative Party need no reminders about how to dispose of a failing leader.

“Can he also, when he is restructuring Number 10, concentrate on the fact that the country wants results, we can’t see the point of such a large Number 10 super-structure, that it needs to be slimmed down and streamlined, and can I commend his determination to restore cabinet government and it is on results over the next few months on which he will be judged.”

Mr Johnson replied: “I’m more than content to be judged on the results, what we’ve already delivered and the results that we will deliver.”

Responding to Conservative Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North), Mr Johnson replied: “We will make sure that there’s a new permanent secretary who will be accountable to me and will make sure that the codes of conduct that are applied both to Spads and to civil servants are properly enforced.”

4.20pm

4.18pm

Boris Johnson failed to commit to publish the Sue Gray report in full once the police investigation has concluded.

Conservative former chief whip Mark Harper told the Commons: “The question here is whether those who make the law, obey the law. That’s pretty fundamental.

“Many have questioned, including my constituents, the Prime Minister’s honesty, integrity and fitness to hold that office. In judging him he rightly asked us to wait for all the facts.

“Sue Gray has made it clear in her update today that she couldn’t produce a meaningful report with the facts.

“So could I ask the Prime Minister the question (Labour MP Diane Abbott) asked him and to which he didn’t give an answer: when Sue Gray produces all of the facts in her full report after the police investigation, will he commit to publish it immediately and in full?”

Mr Johnson replied: “What we’ve got to do is wait for the police to conclude their inquiries, that is the proper thing to do. People have given all sorts of evidence in the expectation that it would not necessarily be published, at that stage I will take a decision about what to publish.”

4.16pm

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Many had to bury their children alone, many couldn’t be there with them at the end. Meanwhile Number 10 partied.

“Does the Prime Minister understand, does he care, about the enormous hurt his actions have caused to bereaved families across our country? Will he finally accept that the only decent thing that he can do now is to resign?”

Mr Johnson replied: “I do care deeply about the hurt that is felt across the country, about the suggestion that things were going on in Number 10 that were in contravention of the Covid rules … I must say that I think we should wait for outcome of the inquiry before jumping to the conclusions that he has.”

4.13pm

A woman whose husband died with Covid-19 in 2020 said Boris Johnson is “unfit to remain in office” after Sue Gray’s report was published.

Fran Hall’s husband Steve Mead died three weeks after the couple were married in 2020.

Ms Hall, 61, from Buckinghamshire, told the PA news agency: “Even as a redacted and reduced summary of her findings it is ‘crystal clear’ (as cabinet ministers are always so fond of saying) that the Prime Minister is unfit to remain in office.

“Like every other person who has lost someone they love to Covid under the leadership of this man and his cabinet, I am beyond exhausted, distressed and disgusted by the shameful circus that is playing out at the heart of Westminster.”

4.11pm

4.10pm

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “The #Gray report may be heavily constrained but it is nevertheless excoriating of Boris Johnson.

“He is guilty of serial failures of leadership & judgment (& has clearly misled parliament).

“If the Tories allow him to continue as PM, they will all be complicit.”

4.07pm

Watch: Sue Gray investigation: Key findings from redacted partygate report

4.06pm

A Conservative former minister said Boris Johnson has lost his “full-throated support”.

Andrew Mitchell said: “Does he recall that ever since he joined the party’s candidates list 30 years ago until we got him into Number 10 he has enjoyed my full-throated support?

“But I am deeply concerned by these events and very concerned indeed by some of the things he has said from that despatch box and has said to the British public and our constituents.

“When he kindly invited me to see him 10 days ago, I told him that I thought he should think very carefully about what was now in the best interests of our country and of the Conservative Party, and I have to tell him he no longer enjoys my support.”

The Prime Minister replied: “I must tell him respectfully, my right honourable friend, great though the admiration is that I have of him, I simply think that he is mistaken in his views and urge him to reconsider upon full consideration of the inquiry.”

4.05pm

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle asked SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford to confirm he had withdrawn claims that the Prime Minister had misled the House.

Mr Blackford replied: “That the Prime Minister may have inadvertently misled the House.”

Sir Lindsay countered: “To help me help the House, you’ve withdrawn your earlier comment and replaced it with inadvertently?”

Mr Blackford said: “It’s not my fault if the Prime Minister can’t be trusted to tell the truth.”

Amid raucous shouting from the Tory benches, the Speaker said: “Under the power given to me by standing order number 43 I order the honourable member to withdraw immediately from the House.”

Mr Blackford walked out the chamber before the Speaker had finished, with Sir Lindsay noting: “It’s all right, we don’t need to bother.”

4.04pm

4.03pm

Former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell told MPs that the Prime Minister no longer has his support following the publication of Sue Gray’s update.

4.02pm

Tory former prime minister Theresa May said: “The Covid regulations imposed significant restrictions on the freedoms of members of the public. They had a right to expect their Prime Minister to have read the rules, to understand the meaning of the rules and indeed those around him to have done so too and to set an example in following those rules.

“What the Gray report does show is that Number 10 Downing Street was not observing the regulations they had imposed on members of the public, so either my right honourable friend had not read the rules or didn’t understand what they meant and others around him, or they didn’t think the rules applied to Number 10. Which was it?”

Mr Johnson replied: “No, Mr Speaker that is not what the Gray report says, I suggest that she waits to see the conclusion of the inquiry.”

4pm

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has been ordered to leave the House of Commons for failing to withdraw claims against Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

3.59pm

Boris Johnson accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile as he hit back at Labour criticism over the Sue Gray report.

The Prime Minister said: “The report does absolutely nothing to substantiate the tissue of nonsense that he has said. Absolute nonsense.

“Instead this leader of the opposition, a former director of public prosecution – who used his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can see – he chose to use this moment to continually pre-judge a police inquiry.

“He has reached his conclusions about it. I am not going to reach any conclusions and he would be entirely wrong to do so.

“I have complete confidence in the police, I hope that they will be allowed simply to get on with their job and don’t propose to offer any more commentary about it and I don’t believe that he should either.”

3.58pm

Hannah Brady, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “The Sue Gray report marks another painful day for bereaved families and reiterates what we already knew: that the Prime Minister and his colleagues broke their own laws regularly and blatantly, whilst families across the country stuck with them even when they suffered terribly as a consequence.

“Even with the heavy redactions in the report, it is impossible to come to any other conclusion than the same one as Sue Gray: that whilst the British public rose to the challenge of making enormous sacrifices to protect their loved ones and their communities, those at 10 Downing Street failed.”

3.56pm

Sir Keir Starmer quoted Margaret Thatcher in noting: “The first duty of government is to uphold the law. If it tries to bob and weave and duck around that duty when it is inconvenient, then so will the governed.”

Sir Keir added: “To govern this country is an honour, not a birthright. It’s an act of service to the British people, not the keys to a court to parade to your friends.

“It requires honesty, integrity and moral authority. I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me that this Prime Minister’s lack of integrity is somehow ‘priced in’, that his behaviour and character don’t matter. I have never accepted that and I never will accept that.

“Whatever your politics, whatever party you vote for, honesty and decency matter. Our great democracy depends on it, and cherishing and nurturing British democracy is what it means to be patriotic.”

3.54pm

3.52pm

Sir Keir Starmer told MPs: “By routinely breaking the rules he set, the Prime Minister took us all for fools, he held people’s sacrifice in contempt, he showed himself unfit for office.

“His desperate denials since he was exposed have only made matters worse. Rather than come clean, every step of the way he’s insulted the public’s intelligence.

“And now he’s finally fallen back on his usual excuse: it’s everybody’s fault but his. They go, he stays. Even now he is hiding behind a police investigation into criminality in his home and his office.

“He gleefully treats what should be a mark of shame as a welcome shield. But Prime Minister, the British public aren’t fools, they never believed a word of it, they think the Prime Minister should do the decent thing and resign.

“Of course he won’t because he is a man without shame and just as he has done throughout his life, he’s damaged everyone and everything around him along the way.

“His colleagues have spent weeks defending the indefensible, touring the TV studios parroting his absurd denials, degrading themselves and their offices, fraying the bond of trust between the Government and the public, eroding our democracy and the rule of law.”

3.50pm

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the Prime Minister to publish Sue Gray’s report in full but insisted it is already clear that what she has disclosed so far is “the most damning conclusion possible”.

Sir Keir told the House of Commons: “The Prime Minister repeatedly assured the House that the guidance was followed and the rules were followed. But we now know that 12 cases have breached the threshold for criminal investigation, which I remind the House means that there is evidence of serious and flagrant breaches of lockdown, including the party on May 20 2020, which we know the Prime Minister attended, and the party on November 13 2020 in the Prime Minister’s flat.

“There can be no doubt that the Prime Minister himself is now subject to criminal investigation. The Prime Minister must keep his promise to publish Sue Gray’s report in full when it is available, but it is already clear what the report disclosed is the most damning conclusion possible.”

3.47pm

A woman whose father died with Covid-19 has criticised the Government’s “cavalier attitude” towards the rules after Sue Gray’s report was published.

Kathryn de Prudhoe, 47, from Leeds, said her father Tony Clay died alone in hospital in April 2020, while Ms de Prudhoe’s mother had to isolate for 11 days afterwards.

“The rest of the country were able to work out what was and wasn’t allowed and the majority stuck to it. My family certainly did,” Ms de Prudhoe told the PA news agency.

“My dad died from Covid-19 alone in hospital in April 2020. We had to negotiate the strict public health measures in place whilst dealing with traumatic loss but we did it without breaking any rules.

“My mum isolated for 11 days after losing her husband and we had a 20-minute funeral for five people at the local undertakers.

“If we could do it, the very people making those rules and briefing them to the nation ought to have been able to do it.

“The fact they didn’t leads me to only one conclusion: they thought the rules were for everyone but them and simply didn’t care if their actions risked spreading a virus that kills people. That isn’t leadership.”

3.46pm

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the British people believe Boris Johnson should “do the decent thing and resign” but he is “a man without shame”.

3.45pm

Concluding his statement on the Sue Gray report, Boris Johnson said: “I get it, and I will fix it. I want to say to the people of this country I know what the issue is.”

Labour MPs should back: “You!”

The Prime Minister continued: “It is whether this Government can be trusted to deliver, and I say ‘yes we can be trusted to deliver’.”

He added: “The reason we are coming out of Covid so fast is at least partly because we doubled the speed of the booster rollout and I can tell the House and this country that we are going to bring the same energy and commitment to getting on with the job to delivering for the British people and to our mission to unite and level up across this country.”

3.44pm

Boris Johnson said that “we are making changes now to the way Downing Street and the Cabinet Office run so that we can get on with the job that I was elected to do and the job that this Government was elected to do”.

He added: “First it is time to sort out what Sue Gray rightly calls the fragmented and complicated leadership structures of Downing Street which she says have not evolved sufficiently to meet the demands of the expansion of Number 10 and we will do that, including by creating an Office of the Prime Minister with a permanent secretary to lead Number 10.”

3.42pm

3.40pm

Boris Johnson faced shouts of “resign” from Opposition MPs as he told the Commons: “We asked people across this country to make the most extraordinary sacrifices – not to meet loved ones, not to visit relatives before they died, and I understand the anger that people feel.

“But it isn’t enough to say sorry. This is a moment when we must look at ourselves in the mirror and we must learn.

“While the Metropolitan Police must yet complete their investigation, and that means there are no details of specific events in Sue Gray’s report, I of course accept Sue Gray’s general findings in full, and above all her recommendation that we must learn from these events and act now.”

3.38pm

Boris Johnson has told MPs he will overhaul the operation in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office to address the concerns raised in Sue Gray’s report, adding: “I get it and I will fix it.”

3.37pm

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the Commons: “Firstly, I want to say sorry – and I’m sorry for the things we simply didn’t get right and also sorry for the way this matter has been handled.

“It’s no use saying this or that was within the rules and it’s no use saying people were working hard. This pandemic was hard for everyone.”

3.36pm

Boris Johnson told MPs he was “sorry for the things we simply didn’t get right and also sorry for the way that this matter has been handled”.

3.35pm

Boris Johnson has said he “accepts Sue Gray’s general findings in full” and “above all her recommendation that we must learn from these events and act now”.

3.33pm

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner told Sky News: “I think that would be terrible for the Conservative Party and MPs to try and blame civil servants when it is the Prime Minister himself that has to take responsibility here.”

She said Tory MPs should not try to “prop up the Prime Minister when they know he’s broke the law, when they know he’s acted inappropriately”.

She added: “If they choose to try and defend that, then I think what actually will happen is it will have a devastating impact on the brand of Conservatives who have always prided themselves on upholding the British principles, upholding the law of the country, and I think it will start to erode the trust and frustrate Conservative voters.”

3.30pm

Three new gatherings not previously revealed were included in Sue Gray’s investigations.

These were a gathering in the Cabinet Office on June 18, 2020, to mark the leaving of a No 10 private secretary, a third gathering on December 17, 2020 – on top of two already reported – to mark the departure of a No 10 official in Downing Street, and a new event on January 14, 2021, also in No 10, when two private secretaries left.

Two previously reported gatherings were not included in her inquiry.

These were drinks held at the Treasury on November 25, 2020 and drinks at the Department for Transport on December 16, 2020.

On the Treasury drinks, a spokesman said at the time: “We have been made aware that a small number of those staff had impromptu drinks around their desks after the event.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “Fewer than a dozen staff who were working in the office had a low-key, socially distanced gathering in the large open-plan office after work on December 16, where food and drink was consumed.

“We recognise this was inappropriate and apologise for the error of judgment.”

3.25pm

In her general findings, Sue Gray twice refers to “failures”:

– “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.”

– “There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times.”

3.22pm

3.20pm

Sue Gray’s update on her investigation into the partygate row is 12 pages long, two of which are blank and one of which is the title page.

Of the remaining nine pages, one page lists the terms of reference for the investigation and two provide a timeline of Covid-19 regulations from March 2020 to May 2021.

This leaves just six pages, which are divided into 24 short sections, most of which comprise a single paragraph.

3.10pm

Boris Johnson has left No 10 to face MPs after Sue Gray’s partygate inquiry was published.

The Prime Minister had a blank expression and answered no questions before he was driven away.

3.03pm

3.01pm

Rishi Sunak was understood to have briefly attended the Cabinet Room gathering for Boris Johnson’s birthday, with it said to have been breaking up as he entered the room to attend a Covid strategy meeting.

With that gathering now under investigation, it raises the question whether the Chancellor will be speaking to the police.

2.55pm

Sue Gray said she decided not to publish factual accounts relating to events not under investigation by police because it would damage her overall findings.

She wrote: “In respect of the gatherings that the Metropolitan Police has assessed as not reaching the threshold for criminal investigation, they have not requested any limitations be placed on the description of those events, however, I have decided not to publish factual accounts in relation to those four dates.

“I do not feel that I am able to do so without detriment to the overall balance of the findings.”

2.51pm

Labour’s Chris Bryant, chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, tweeted: “Behaviour that is difficult to justify. A serious failure to observe high standards. Failures of leadership and judgement.

“Excessive consumption of alcohol in a professional workplace. Gatherings that should not of been able to take place. And that’s just the update!”

2.48pm

2.45pm

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy was among the first people to react to the report.

2.40pm

Sue Gray’s report criticised “failures of leadership and judgment” by parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office.

It said: “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.

“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.

“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.”

2.37pm

Police are investigating gatherings on at least eight separate dates, Sue Gray’s update suggests.

2.35pm

2.32pm

Police are investigating the gathering in the Cabinet Room in No 10 on Boris Johnson’s birthday in 2020, Sue Gray’s update on her inquiry suggests.

2.30pm

2.29pm

The Gray report concluded: “The gatherings within the scope of this investigation are spread over a 20-month period – a period that has been unique in recent times in terms of the complexity and breadth of the demands on public servants and indeed the general public.

“The whole of the country rose to the challenge. Ministers, special advisers and the Civil Service, of which I am proud to be a part, were a key and dedicated part of that national effort.

“However, as I have noted, a number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did. There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across Government. This does not need to wait for the police investigations to be concluded.”

2.28pm

2.25pm

In her report on the partygate row, Sue Gray said the Downing Street garden was “used for gatherings without clear authorisation or oversight” and “this was not appropriate”.

2.24pm

Sue Gray found that “at least some of the gatherings” she investigated 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”.

2.20pm

Sue Gray’s redacted report on the “partygate” allegations of lockdown-busting gatherings in No 10 and Whitehall has been published.

1.50pm

Boris Johnson will address a meeting of the whole Conservative parliamentary party at 6.30pm, a senior Tory MP has said.

1.30pm

A former communications director to Boris Johnson said limited publication of the Sue Gray inquiry is “bad for democracy” but “good for the PM”.

Will Walden, who advised him during his time as London mayor, told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One programme: “It’s a mess. It’s probably bad for democracy but inadvertently good for the PM.

“He’s used up quite a lot of lives over this but I think it’s landed pretty well for him.

“I think he has the benefit of seeing what appears to be a heavily redacted report, he doesn’t have long to respond but he’s responding to frankly what is going to be not a lot. And I suspect that can only help him.”

12.32pm

Boris Johnson spoke briefly with Sue Gray on Sunday ahead of the delivery of her report on lockdown parties, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I don’t believe they spoke this morning. My understanding is they spoke briefly yesterday.

“I think they briefly discussed the findings. I don’t know exactly what they discussed.”

Asked if the Prime Minister was grateful for Ms Gray’s work, the spokesman said: “Yes, he commissioned this work she carried out.”

12.30pm

12.27pm

Downing Street said it will publish the Gray report in the full form it has received from the inquiry team, but did not commit to publish a fuller version in the future.

Asked why the release has so far been characterised as an “update”, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s a reflection of the fact there is an ongoing police investigation and the Met have been clear about what their expectations are about what can or cannot be put in the public domain while that’s ongoing.”

Asked whether Sue Gray will seek to publish more in the future, he said: “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. But obviously it’s something we will want to keep under review.”

Pressed on whether the public will see a fuller report after the Met investigation, the spokesman said: “That’s one of the things I can’t confirm at this point simply because we need to discuss that with the Met and others about what is suitable.”

But questioned on whether the report will be published in the manner it was received from the inquiry team, he confirmed: “We will publish it as received.”

12.24pm

12.22pm

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update to the Prime Minister.

“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 after people have had the opportunity to read and consider the findings.”

He expected the Prime Minister’s statement to be made around 3.30pm.

12.20pm

Downing Street said it will publish Sue Gray’s report on Monday afternoon in the full form it has received from the inquiry team, but did not commit to publish a fuller version in future.