Latest on Boris Johnson ‘Partygate’ probe report

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask senior civil servant Sue Gray to update her report once a police investigation has concluded and will publish that update, a spokesperson for Johnson said in a statement.

The Metropolitan Police said earlier that it is currently investigating eight of the 12 parties at Downing Street considered in the Sue Gray report. 

The Downing Street statement said that it “would not be appropriate to comment further while the Met’s investigation is ongoing.”

“But, at the end of the process, the Prime Minister will ask Sue Gray to update her work in light of what is found. He will publish that update,” the spokesperson added.

The Prime Minister emphasized that “we must not judge an ongoing investigation,” his spokesperson said, adding that his focus is on “addressing the general findings” of Monday’s report.  

Police investigating parties at Downing Street have been given more than 300 photos and 500 pieces of paper, Metropolitan Police Commander Catherine Roper said, according to PA Media.

Officers are probing at least 12 events, according to Sue Gray’s report.

“Once the penalty is paid, the matter is considered closed. Alternatively individuals may decide to dispute the notice. In these circumstances officers will consider whether to pursue the matter in a magistrates’ court,” the statement continues.

CNN’s Max Foster contributed reporting to this post.

Reports of parties in the heart of Britain’s government have sparked fury in the country for weeks – and that outrage peaked on Monday, when an official report returned damning findings.

Some aspects of the parties, which have been splashed across front pages since the beginning of December, might seem trivial or even amusing.

Garden parties. DJs. Suitcases full of alcohol. Staff playing on a swing erected for the Prime Minister’s infant child.

But the allegations matter not so much because of what took place, but when.

Boris Johnson’s government imposed the strictest peacetime restrictions on British people that any have ever seen. For months, people could not see their family members – even outside, from a distance. They could leave their homes once a day; life events like weddings were put on hold.

Most difficult of all, people were banned from visiting family members as they died with Covid-19 in hospital. Even funerals were limited to immediate family, and attendees could not hug each other as they mourned.

It was a hardship endured by many: the UK has seen more than 150,000 deaths since the pandemic began, more than anywhere else in Europe.

So when it came to light that Johnson and his staff had attended gatherings while imposing such strict rules on the British public, it struck a chord with the British public that has destroyed the government’s standing in opinion polls and left Johnson within an inch of his political life.

Deepening the scandal was Johnson’s many responses on the matter. At first, in early December, he denied that a party had taken place in Downing Street and insisted that all guidance was followed. Just eight weeks later, 12 parties are under police investigation and a report has condemned his leadership.

Fewer than one in four (23%) of British adults now say Johnson has what it takes to be a good prime minister, while two out of three (64%) say he does not, a new Ipsos Mori poll released Monday found. 

Johnson’s rating on the question has fallen to its lowest level in Ipsos Mori polling since he won a landslide election in 2019.

Even during 2021, when Johnson’s government enjoyed popularity on the back of a successful vaccine rollout, the Prime Minister came under criticism for the view that his government followed one rule while the public followed another.

The past two months have made it even harder for Johnson to refute that claim – and threaten to wreck public trust in his government.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson listens as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer responds to his statement to MPs in the House of Commons on the Sue Gray report on January 31.

Boris Johnson opened his statement in the House of Commons by saying “sorry.”

He said he was sorry for the things that he and his government “simply didn’t get right.” He said it is no use defending what happened in Downing Street as “within the rules.” He said he will make changes to the Downing Street operation and that he understood the anger felt by members of the public.

Then he went on the offensive.

He told lawmakers that “yes, we can be trusted.” He listed what he perceived were his achievements, among them getting Brexit done, delivering a vaccine rollout faster than anywhere in Europe.

Then things got very ugly.

Leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said that Johnson was a man who had throughout his life “damaged everything and everyone around him.”

Johnson responded by attacking Starmer’s time as Director of Public Prosecution, saying that he had failed to prosecute Britain’s most notorious paedophile.

Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party, was thrown from the House for calling the Prime Minister a liar.

Members of his own party publicly withdrew their support for the Prime Minister.

Johnson has historically been rewarded whenever he takes a bullish, aggressive line against his opponents. However, this time might be different.

Government advisors are seriously worried that Johnson’s non-apology will not come across to the public as a man who understands what has gone wrong, but a callous man who is more interested in clinging to power than being held responsible.

It’s been a ferocious, undignified hour in British politics. Previous occasions where debate has reached such anger have been on matters of war and peace; life and death.

Ahead of his statement, Conservative sources said Johnson’s fate would rest on the balance between contrition and kicking the can.

As things stand, the Prime Minister has spent significantly more time attacking his opponents and boasting about his successes in office than apologizing for an offence that could still bring down his government.

Boris Johnson is responding to angry questions by MPs by saying they must continue to wait for the findings of an ongoing police investigation – a defensive line that follows weeks of claiming they must wait for Sue Gray to report her conclusions.

He is being met with loud jeers every time he resorts to that defence.

“The Prime Minister thinks this is fine. So just how bad do things have to be before he takes personal responsibility, does what everybody in this country wants him to do, and resign?” Labour MP Angela Eagle asked.

Boris Johnson is being lambasted from all sides in Parliament, as he bats back furious interventions from MPs.

Andrew Mitchell, a Conservative backbencher, was intensely critical of Johnson and said “he no longer enjoys my support.”

Johnson could face a vote of no confidence if enough Tories call for one.

Mitchell’s comments followed an angry rebuke from Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor in Downing Street.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford responds to a statement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to MPs in the House of Commons on the Sue Gray report on January 31.

Ian Blackford, the leader of the Scottish National Party, accused Johnson of misleading Parliament over a party in his Downing Street apartment – causing a brief uproar in the Commons, as some Conservatives called for him to be removed from the chamber.

Blackford said “nobody believed” Johnson’s denials that he knowingly attended a garden party.

He said he has “wilfully misled Parliament” – but amended the word to “inadvertently” after the Speaker intervened.

“This murky business is tainting everything around it,” Blackford said.

Theresa May, whom Boris Johnson replaced as Prime Minister, criticized Johnson in the wake of the Gray report.

She told lawmakers that Johnson “imposed significant restrictions on freedoms” of British citizens.

“They had a right to expect their Prime Minister to have read the rules, to understand the meaning of the rules,” she said.

She told the House: “Either (Johnson) had not read the rules, or didn’t understand what they meant, or they didn’t think the rules applied to Number 10. Which was it?”

Responding to Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer condemned “the bonfire that is his leadership,” and called on Conservative lawmakers to “spare the country” by removing him.

Johnson attacked Starmer for discussing a police investigation, and pivoted again to discussing the Ukraine border crisis and his government’s Brexit policy.

“I have complete confidence in the police … I don’t propose to offer any more commentary about it,” Johnson said.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer responds to a statement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to MPs in the House of Commons on the Sue Gray report on January 31.

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer is responding to Johnson’s speech, telling lawmakers “there is evidence of serious and flagrant breaches of lockdown.”

“There can be no doubt that the Prime Minister himself is now subject to criminal investigation,” Starmer said.

He urged the government to publish the full report when it is ready, but added that “it is already clear that the report discloses the most damning conclusion possible.”

Starmer repeated calls for Johnson to resign, calling the PM a “man without shame.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a statement to MPs in the House of Commons on the Sue Gray report on January 31.

Boris Johnson is touting his government’s actions on Brexit and crime as he attempts to draw a line under the parties scandal – but he has been met with jeers from opposition MPs.

He said he “gets” public anger, but that his focus is now “getting on with the job.”

“I get it, and I will fix it,” Johnson said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, England, on the Sue Gray report on January 31

Boris Johnson is addressing MPs after the Sue Gray report was published. “Firstly I want to say sorry,” he said.

“I’m sorry for the things we simply didn’t get right,” he added. “This pandemic was hard for everyone … I understand the anger that people feel.”

Johnson said the government “must look ourselves in the mirror” and added he would make changes in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson is speaking to MPs, and he’ll face a grilling from the opposition afterwards. You can follow events on this page.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street, Westminster, for the House of Commons, where he will make a statement to MPs on the Sue Gray report after she provided an update on her investigations earlier today, January 31.

Boris Johnson is about to speak to the House of Commons after the publication of Sue Gray’s report.

The report was far more critical than many were expecting and revealed that 12 gatherings attended by government officials that took place during Covid restrictions have met the threshold for police investigation.

The big question right now: Can he survive?

For what it’s worth, ahead of the Prime Minister’s address, here’s what his own lawmakers are thinking. The biggest Johnson skeptics are resigned to Johnson holding it on. They think he will kick the can down the road and grip onto power, no matter what damage it does to the governing Conservative party.

Moderates think Johnson’s short-term fate comes down to how apologetic he is. If they deem the PM not to have been sufficiently contrite, they will let him know at a meeting of backbenchers later today.

And those still supporting Johnson are very worried that their trigger-happy colleagues are ready to move against the Prime Minister without really thinking about what happens next.

Whatever happens, these next few hours could well be the best remembered of his entire time in office.

The Sue Gray report has raised questions about Boris Johnson’s past comments about lockdown parties.

One event is particularly notable: Gray writes that her inquiry probed “a gathering in the No 10 Downing Street flat” on November 13, 2020. That event is among those that police are also investigating, according to the report.

Johnson was asked about that gathering in Parliament on December 8. Here’s what was said:

MPs are not allowed to knowingly mislead Parliament, and doing so breaches the ministerial code. Here’s what the code says about misleading Parliament:

Last week, at Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour Leader Keir Starmer asked Johnson if he would resign were he found to have misled Parliament.

If Johnson is found to have breached the code and does not offer to resign, it would be up to Conservative MPs to force him out through a vote of no confidence.

Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner walks outside the Houses of Parliament on January 19 in London, England.

Sue Gray’s report into lockdown parties at Downing Street is “appalling and astonishing” and Boris Johnson should not continue as Prime Minister, the deputy leader of the opposition Labour party has said.

Angela Rayner told the BBC: “I don’t know how Boris Johnson has got the nerve to even turn up at Parliament today.”

“You think about the key workers who lost their lives over that period … it’s absolutely appalling and astonishing,” she said.

Monday’s release was not the entire report, and Rayner said “we haven’t even had the worst of it yet,” calling on Johnson to resign.

The Prime Minister “needs to go,” she said.

A general view of number 10 Downing Street on January 29 in London, England.

Sue Gray’s long-awaited report into coronavirus-era parties in government has arrived – and even in a brief and stripped-down format, it’s more damaging for Boris Johnson than many had expected.

Here are some of the key findings.

Police are investigating a gathering held for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s birthday in 2020, along with several other events in government, Sue Gray’s report suggests.

Gray said she investigated 16 events on 12 different days. She added that police are also looking at those events, with the exception of four.

They include a gathering on Johnson’s birthday, when the country was in lockdown.

The report has landed and it is a lot more critical than many had expected.

Despite the Metropolitan Police investigation pulling the teeth from Senior British civil servant Sue Gray’s investigation, she has left enough crumbs for Westminster to feed off — and for Boris Johnson to feel less than comfortable for the foreseeable future.

In her general findings, Gray says that there were “failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times. Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”

She also said that “some of the behavior surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify.”

Crucially, she has revealed that only four of the 16 gatherings initially referred for investigation as not reaching the threshold for investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police. One of the gatherings that reached the police threshold is the alleged birthday party for Johnson.

Gray finishes the report by saying that the police investigation “unfortunately” means she is “extremely limited in what I can say about those events and it is not possible at present to provide a meaningful report”.

It’s likely that those who want Johnson removed from power won’t move until we know a little more about the police investigation.

However, the fact that this update has been so damning is very worrying for Johnson. And he will learn later tonight — at a meeting of his backbenchers — exactly how angry his own lawmakers are and how secure his political future might be.

Sue Gray investigated 16 different gatherings that took place in the heart of government while Britain was under strict Covid-19 rules, the civil servant wrote in her stripped-back findings on Monday.

But details of the events were not included in the report, due to a police investigation that scuppered Gray’s probe.