By Ben Kerrigan-
The publication of the Sue Gray report faces a potentially significant delay, after Scotland Yard revealed it had asked for references to matters it is now investigating to be removed.
Important aspects of the long-awaited report on allegations of parties in No 10 that may have broken Covid rules could be pushed back following The Met’s decision to launch its own investigation.
The Metropolitan police announced on Tuesday that they were launching their own investigation, and denied holding up Gray’s report.
However, in a statement on Friday, the force said it had requested minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report”.
The Met said it “did not ask for any limitations on other events in the report, or for the report to be delayed, but we have had ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office, including on the content of the report, to avoid any prejudice to our investigation”.
The intervention has sparked uproar in some quarters, leading to allegations of a ‘potential stich up’ in a most awaited investigation into the partygate scandal.
Gray’s report had promised to leave no stones unturned and provide a detailed account of those who attended the numerous downing street parties during the height of the pandemic at a time when many members of the public were prevented seeing their loved ones who were dying in hospital.
Partying during a pandemic period has many members of the public and also professional critics to conclude that the government and its ministers, either did not believe the pandemic was serious enough to warrant the lockdown it publicly imposed, or that they simply did not care
News of the Metropolitan Police’s intervention has led the Liberal Democrats to warn that it would be “profoundly damaging” for there to be a hint of an “establishment stitch-up” between the Met commissioner, Cressida Dick, and the government.
Shortly after it launched its own inquiry into reports of illegal lockdown parties in Downing Street, the police instructed the Cabinet Office to remove some details from its long-awaited report, which had been due to be released this week
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, accused the government of being distracted by a “charade of Johnson’s making”, and “paralysed” by attempts to “save his skin”. He said people concerned about tax rises and rising energy bills were “getting no answers from a government mired in sleaze and scandal”, but it was “offensive” that ministers’ “sole focus is on cleaning up after themselves”.
Starmer called for Gray’s report to be published “in full, as soon as possible” and urged the Met to “get on with their investigation”, adding the prime minister was “unfit for office”.
The Met had originally resisted pressure to formerly investigate allegations of rule-breaking on Downing Street, despite evidence piling up, before Commissioner Cressida Dick announced on Tuesday that a criminal inquiry had been launched.
That decision was taken after Ms Gray – the civil servant investigating partygate – passed onto the force evidence she’d uncovered of potentially criminal wrongdoing.
The Met has now issued a statement, explaining that it had asked Ms Gray to make “minimal reference” to the Downing Street events it is investigating.
Dal Babu, a former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent expressed confusion over the delay.
Mr Babu said he is “struggling to understand why this report would impede the police investigation”, given it has “no legal standing” and there is already a huge amount of evidence in the public domain.
Johnson’s spokesperson said the Met “should be given time and space” to complete its “independent work”.
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesperson, said: “Police officers need the trust and confidence of the public to do their jobs and keep our communities safe. That’s why we called for the police to investigate No 10 weeks ago and put this whole sorry business behind us, instead of waiting for Sue Gray.
“The Sue Gray report must be published in full, including all photos, text messages and other evidence. If it is redacted now, a full, unredacted version must be published as soon as the police investigation is complete.”
The former prime minister Theresa May broke her silence on “partygate” to say she was angry at the allegations of Covid rule-breaking and warn that if there was evidence of deliberate wrongdoing then “full accountability” should follow.
In a letter to her local newspaper, the Maidenhead Advertiser, May said “nobody is above the law” and stressed: “It is vital that those who set the rules, follow the rules … This is important for ensuring the necessary degree of trust between the public and government.”
Boris Johnson has stood his ground that he did not break Covid laws, but understood the ‘gathering that responded to the bring your own booze’ so-called social distanced gathering, to have been a work event.
A number of Mps seeking to oust him have been gathering numbers over the week, but some are waiting for the report before casting their vote one way or another.
Johnson was elected with the biggest ever majority in parliament, and have fought off many storms in the past. This particular storm is quite wild, and remains to be seen if he can blow it away like all the others.