Gray report vindicates me over No 10 parties, claims Boris Johnson

The British PM tells Tory MPs the scandal had given a distorted impression of Downing Street and urged them to move on.

Boris Johnson returns to Downing Street. Picture: Getty Images

A defiant British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed he has been “vindicated” over lockdown parties in Whitehall, despite a damning report that laid bare a culture of rule-breaking in Downing Street.

Sue Gray, a senior civil servant, revealed Mr Johnson’s most senior aides were involved in the planning of parties that involved drunkenness, fighting, karaoke and vomiting.

Her report said there had been “multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment” of cleaning and security staff who tried to raise concerns.

She condemned “failures of leadership” at the heart of government, for which there was “no excuse”, and said Mr Johnson must bear responsibility.

The Prime Minister said late on Wednesday he was “appalled by some of the behaviour” outlined in the report and apologised for the rule-breaking, adding that he was “humbled” by months of revelations about the affair.

He said, though, it had been appropriate to hold leaving events for Downing Street staff during lockdown and that it was essential for him to attend to thank officials and boost morale. “I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch,” he said.

He later told Conservative MPs the scandal had given a distorted impression of Downing Street and urged them to move on from “Westminster issues”.

The Times has been told a senior official in No. 10 had been given advance sight on Tuesday of excerpts of the report.

A government source said they had been shown it because they had to deal with staff welfare matters and that no changes had either been requested or made.

Tory MPs mostly held back from challenging Mr Johnson on Wednesday night, with only one new backbencher calling on him to quit.

The Prime Minister faces a parliamentary investigation over claims he knowingly misled MPs when he repeatedly said he had been unaware that rules had been broken in Downing Street.

Ms Gray’s 50-page report revealed:

● Martin Reynolds, Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary, told colleagues they had “got away with” a party in the No. 10 garden, having been warned the event was a “risk in the current environment”;

● One leaving party involved staff taking part in karaoke outside the Cabinet Secretary’s office and ended with one participant being sick and an altercation between two civil servants;

● Another party went on until 4am, during which staff clambered over a climbing frame belonging to Mr Johnson’s son, Wilfred, causing damage.

Ms Gray said leaders in Downing Street, “both political and official”, must bear responsibility for the rule-breaking.

“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,” she said.

Mr Johnson told the House of Commons he accepted that his previous statements, insisting all Covid rules and guidance had been followed, were untrue.

He said he had not knowingly misled parliament, arguing that the events he had attended were legitimate and only subsequently became illegal.

He said: “At the time that I spoke to this house, I believed that what I was doing was to attend work events. And with the exception of the event in the Cabinet Room (a party to mark Mr Johnson’s birthday), that is a view that has been vindicated by the investigation.”

Former Tory defence minister Tobias Ellwood said the controversy had “eroded” the trust of the public and Mr Johnson should resign. Labour leader Keir Starmer called on Tory MPs to tell Mr Johnson “the game is up”.

The Times