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Detailed summary of civil servant’s report into
lockdown-breaching parties in and around Downing Street
Peter
Walker Political correspondent
@peterwalker99
Wed 25 May
2022 13.08 BST
The full report by the senior civil servant Sue Gray
into lockdown-breaking parties in and around Downing Street has been published.
This is what it says:
Summary of the events
·
Gray looked into 15 events on 12
dates between May 2020 and April 2021, all of which involved people gathering
during Covid lockdowns. Boris Johnson attended eight of these.
·
Several of the events appeared
notably drunken and rowdy. At a leaving do on 18 June 2020 there was karaoke,
“excessive alcohol consumption” in which someone was sick and “a minor
altercation between two other individuals”, with staff staying beyond 3am. Two
leaving events on 14 April 2021, which merged in the No 10 garden, involved
drunkenness and people leaving after 4am. At a Christmas party in December 2020
red wine was spilled on a wall and on stationery supplies.
·
Emails and messages uncovered by Gray
found regular planning of socialising, but also some officials trying to warn
that the events were a bad idea.
·
As well as Johnson, a handful of
senior officials are named, among them Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, and
Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s former principal private secretary.
·
Reynolds appeared particularly
involved in planning events. After one gathering, Reynolds sent a message
saying No 10 “seem to have got away with” holding it.
·
The report runs to 60 pages and
features eight photos from two events – Johnson’s birthday gathering in June
2020 and a leaving event in November that year.
·
Gray opted to not investigate claims
of a party inside Johnson’s Downing Street flat on 13 November 2020. While Gray
confirms this involved food and alcohol, she “concluded it was not appropriate
or proportionate” to look into it – a decision likely to be controversial.
·
Gray’s overall findings
·
Whatever “the initial intent”, many
of the gatherings breached Covid rules, and whatever the pressures of the time,
this should not have happened.
·
There were “failures of leadership
and judgment in No 10 and the Cabinet Office”. Gray wrote: “The events that I
investigated were attended by leaders in government. Many of these events
should not have been allowed to happen.”
·
Security and junior staff were often
treated in an “unacceptable” way, Gray found: “I was made aware of multiple
examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning
staff.”
·
Her overall conclusion: “Many will be
dismayed that behaviour of this kind took place on this scale at the heart of
government. The public have a right to expect the very highest standards of
behaviour in such places and clearly what happened fell well short of this.”
The events
uncovered
15 May
2020: cheese and wine in the No 10 garden
As pictured
in the Guardian, Johnson, his wife, Carrie, his then aide Dominic Cummings,
Reynolds and the then health secretary, Matt Hancock, all attended, with wine
and cheese laid out, but Gray concluded this involved gatherings for work.
20 May
2020: ‘bring your own booze’ No 10 garden event
The report
relates lengthy messages in which Reynolds planned the event and invited staff,
but also ones in which Lee Cain, then Johnson’s communication chief, called the
idea of the mass gathering “somewhat of a comms risk in the current
environment”. Another official warned that given the Covid press conference
taking place in Downing Street, “just be courteous with sound from 4-6pm”. In
the end, 30 to 40 people attended, including Johnson for about 30 minutes. The
morning after, Reynolds sent a message saying “we seem to have got away with”
holding it.
18 June
2020: leaving event in the Cabinet Office for a No 10 private secretary
Also
organised by Reynolds, messages obtained by Gray show Cain again warning it
appeared a bad idea. After the formal event with speeches attended by more than
25 people, No 10 officials, among them Reynolds, drank prosecco and ate pizza,
and used a karaoke machine. This was the event that included someone being sick
and the altercation. The last person to leave did so at 3.13am.
19 June
2020: Johnson’s birthday
This was
the brief party for Johnson in the cabinet room for which he, his wife, Carrie,
and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, were fined. It lasted about 20 minutes, Gray
found, and Johnson was present throughout. This is the only event for which the
prime minister received a fine.
13 November
2020: Lee Cain leaving party
One of the
two events for which photos are appended – the same ones leaked to ITV News on
Monday. Johnson was among those who attended, and drank wine, and also gave a
speech.
27 November
2020: leaving party for a special adviser
Gray does
not name the adviser, but this was Cleo Watson. About 15 to 20 people attended,
some drinking alcohol. Johnson was there briefly, and said some words.
10 December
2020: Department for Education drinks
Organised
by the then education secretary, Gavin Williamson, and attended by about 20 to
30 staff. Lasting about an hour, alcohol was served.
15 December
2020: No 10 Christmas quiz
This was
mainly online, though some were there in person, among them Johnson. Comprising
a quiz and prize-giving, it lasted approximately three and a half hours.
17 December
202: online quiz in Simon Case’s office
Mainly
virtual, with some staff taking part in person. It involved alcohol and food
and lasted about 90 minutes.
17 December
2020: leaving party for two No 10 officials
Alcohol was
drunk, Johnson spoke and attended briefly. A small number of staff stayed
drinking until about 1am.
17 December
2020: leaving party in the Cabinet Office
This was
for Kate Josephs, the outgoing head of the Covid taskforce. It was meant to be
socially distanced, but this did not happen. Alcohol was drunk and pizzas
ordered, and some staff moved into No 10 to join the leaving party taking place
on the same evening.
18 December
2020: No 10 Christmas event
Billed as a
“wine time Friday” event, this was pre-planned and involved a mock awards
ceremony and secret Santa gift exchange. At one point an alarm was accidentally
triggered and security staff “observed a large number of people in the area”.
Some people drank to excess and wine was spilled on a wall and on “a number of
boxes of photocopier paper”.
14 January
2021: leaving event for two No 10 officials
Alcohol was
drunk, with Johnson attending briefly to give a leaving speech.
16 April
2021: two leaving parties that merged
One was for
James Slack, Johnson’s then head of communications, and the other for a
“private office official”, believed to be one of Johnson’s personal
photographers. The latter event, held in the No 10 basement, was especially
rowdy, with music played and a number of people drinking excessively. The two
parties later merged in the No 10 garden. Gray notes the last person to leave
did so at 4.20am.
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