Report finds Downing Street gatherings during lockdowns ‘difficult to justify’

This is an emerging news story and will be updated.

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make a statement to Parliament on Monday afternoon after receiving a highly anticipated report into some — but not all — of the charges of rule-breaking parties at Downing Street during coronavirus lockdowns.

An investigation, by senior civil servant Sue Gray, was tasked with looking into allegations of more than a dozen parties in various government buildings, including the prime minister’s office and residence at Downing Street, when most indoor gatherings were banned under coronavirus rules.

Johnson is fighting for his political life, unable to move on from a scandal dubbed “Partygate.”

He has faced withering criticism not only from the opposition but from within his own Conservative Party. Johnson has said that he will not resign and that he and his government have got “all the big things right.”

The British media has been banging the gong for the Gray report for weeks, as it was believed it could set Johnson’s political future. It was expected to be published in full last week. But then on Friday, the Metropolitan Police told Gray not to publish key details in her report, lest it influence an ongoing criminal investigation into the parties.

In a statement, the police asked for the Gray report to include “minimal reference” to the events their officers were investigating to “avoid any prejudice to our investigation.”

It is not clear which of the gatherings the police force is investigating, but presumably it is looking at the most serious allegations, meaning any report — or “update,” in the government’s terms — is likely to be narrow in focus and watered down.

Many Conservative lawmakers have said they were waiting to see the Gray report, presumably the full one with all the juicy details, before deciding whether to attempt to oust Johnson. The key questions: Did the British prime minister break the law? Who was responsible for the gatherings? Did Johnson have advance knowledge of the “bring your own booze” party? Were there get-togethers in the Johnsons’ apartment? What new details about various gatherings has she uncovered?

Given the new constraints, the Gray report might not fully answer these questions, meaning the whole scandal will drag on.

To trigger a leadership challenge in the Conservative Party, 54 Conservative members of Parliament would have to submit letters of no confidence to the chair of the 1922 Committee, made up of backbench party members. At least seven lawmakers have publicly said they have submitted letters, but more may have done so privately.

But the calculus for some may have changed since London’s Metropolitan Police announced last week that they were launching a parallel investigation — this one criminal — into the various gatherings and bashes.

For his part, Johnson has been keen to turn attention to other matters. In the House of Commons, he has boasted that he and his government are “leading” the West in warning Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would face “the toughest possible sanctions” if Russian troops were to invade Ukraine. Instead of talking about parties, Johnson wanted to talk about reducing waiting times at National Health Service hospitals. The prime minister insisted “I am getting on with the job.”

A birthday party for the prime minister is just one of many alleged gatherings at Downing Street that has come under scrutiny. Two of the parties at Downing Street, on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, prompted the prime minister’s office to apologize to Queen Elizabeth II. Johnson half apologized for attending a “bring your own booze” garden party, saying he was there only briefly. Otherwise, Downing Street has maintained that gatherings were work-related.

Over 100,000 people have been fined since the start of the pandemic for breaking coronavirus restrictions. Those who held small gatherings were fined £100 or $134; for groups of 30 or more, the penalty was £10,000 or $13,400.

The police have been criticized for failing to launch an investigation earlier into the Downing Street parties.

The whole scandal has been “a terribly damaging episode for trust in the government, the ability of the government to police itself, and more broadly, in the police themselves,” said Will Jennings, a politics expert at the University of Southampton.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said last week the force would investigate “without fear or favor,” adding, “I absolutely understand that there is deep public concern about the allegations that have been in the media over the past several weeks.”

Being under the cloud of a criminal investigation is hardly good for Johnson.

Johnson, in theory, could be interviewed by the police. If he is, he won’t be the first sitting prime minister to be the subject of a police investigation. Tony Blair, who served as British prime minister from 1997 to 2007, was questioned by police in what became known as the cash for peerages scandal. Blair was never charged but the episode cast a shadow over the final months of his premiership.