Sue Gray’s report into No10 parties is damning but not the end for Boris Johnson

SLIPPERY pig Boris Johnson was still at large last night after a damning report into Downing Street parties uncovered an unacceptable culture of boozing at the heart of government.

But time was running out as Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray accused Number 10 of partying while Britain was locked indoors under the Prime Minister’s Covid laws.

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Her damning report identified “failings of leadership and judgment” by Downing Street staff, who were found to have trollied in fridge-loads of plonk for late-night discos.

Once again, Boris was forced to offer Parliament an apology.

Yet despite the serious nature of the allegations, this was Boris Johnson at his most bullish.

He was apparently apologising for everyone else’s mistakes.

“I want to say sorry,” he told a rowdy House of Commons.

“Sorry for the things we simply didn’t get right and for the way in which this matter has been handled.”

The collective “we” made it clear Boris was not talking about his own failures. That will be left to the police to decide.

Sue Gray’s report was short and to the point.

But it provided exhaustive evidence of the comings and goings at Number 10 compiled from official records and photographic evidence.

Up to 300 mobile phone pictures of party revels have been handed to the police.

In a series of damning findings, Ms Gray reported:

• An “excessive and inappropriate” consumption of alcohol by Downing Street staffers.
• A “serious failure” to meet the high standards expected at the heart of government.
• “Failures of leadership and judgment”.

The report stopped short of pointing the finger at the Prime Minister himself.

That was left to “Plebgate” MP Andrew Mitchell, whose close pal and serial rebel David Davis last month told the PM: “In the name of God, go.”

Mitchell said: “I have considered what is in the best interests of the country and the Conservative Party and I have to tell you that you no longer have my support.”

Loyalist grandee Sir Bernard Jenkin warned Boris he is now on probation after promising to deliver Brexit and return to old-fashioned Cabinet government.

TORIES EXPECT HAMMERING

“It will be on the results over the next few months that you will be judged,” he said.

That period will include the May local elections, where the Tories are expecting a hammering.

Theresa May stepped in to take revenge on Boris for booting her out of office.

“The report shows Number 10 were not observing the rules they imposed on the public,” she snapped.

“Either he had not read the rules, or understood the rules, or thought they didn’t apply to him. Which was it?”

Tory MPs who can usually be relied on for a supportive wall of sound were remarkably muted as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer launched his attack.

The British people would not be “taken for fools”, he said, calling on Boris to resign.

To the PM’s dismay, his point was picked up by Tory MP Aaron Bell, who spoke of his grandmother’s funeral, limited to ten mourners as Downing Street partied.

“Does the Prime Minister think I’m a fool?” he asked.

Former Boris allies are seething over his failure to deliver his pre-election promises on Brexit, immigration, “green crap” and tax cuts.

Some are dubious about his promise to start now with job-creating freeports and deregulation.

They want direct action against the flood of cross-Channel migration.

Many are asking why it has taken two years and a major political crisis to spur Boris into promising change and a return to Cabinet government.

And more worrying for many critics, will he wriggle out of those promises once free from the risk of rebellion?

‘SEISMIC IMPACT’

Amid fire from all sides, Boris sought unlikely sanctuary from Scotland Yard, who are investigating allegations about parties that might have actually broken the criminal law.

Until then, he insisted, there should be no rush to judgment.

But for many, the verdict is already in.

Under the ministerial code of conduct, ministers who “knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to offer their resignation”.

Boris promised MPs there were no parties in Number 10.

Indeed, he would be “furious” if proved wrong.

“I have been repeatedly assured no parties took place,” he told them.

Now the Met is investigating not just a series of drinks gatherings below stairs, but also an Abba party thrown by the PM’s wife Carrie for friends in his own Number 10 flat.

The police have dossiers of evidence from dozens of witnesses and a massive file of 300 photographs taken on mobile phones at the parties.

Boris has pleaded with ministers and MPs to withhold judgment until Scotland Yard has completed its investigations.

But it would appear Sue Gray has already summed up.

“The outbreak and spread of Covid-19 represented a global public health crisis without parallel in living memory,” she wrote.

“It had a seismic impact on every aspect of life in the country.

“In response, the Government put in place far-reaching restrictions on citizens that had direct and material impact on their lives, livelihood and liberties

“Some of the gatherings 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.”

And it emerged last night, this is not the end.

Sue Gray has a second bucketload ready to unleash once the Met has finished its criminal investigation.