Sue Gray’s initial findings into No 10 parties published revealing a ‘failure of leadership’ 

An initial version of Sue Gray’s report into Downing Street parties has been delivered to Number 10 and released to the public.

The twelve-page report, which has been shortened due to ongoing police investigations, notes that there was 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’.

The report acknowledged that every citizen has been impacted by the pandemic, reading: “Everyone has made personal sacrifices, some the most profound, having been unable to see loved ones in their last moments or care for vulnerable family and friends.”

Following this, Gray stated that because the Government was asking citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is ‘difficult to justify’.

Stand-out points from the report include:

• There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times.
• The excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time.
• The use of the garden at No 10 Downing Street should be primarily for the Prime Minister and the private residents of No 10 and No 11 Downing Street.
• The leadership structures are fragmented and complicated and this has sometimes led to the blurring of lines of accountability.
• Some staff wanted to raise concerns about behaviours they witnessed at work but at times felt unable to do so.

The findings also state: “At times it seems there was too little thought given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings, the risks they presented to public health and how they might appear to the public.”

Elaborating on some of the findings, Gray said that steps must be taken to ensure that every Government Department has a ‘clear and robust policy in place covering the consumption of alcohol in the workplace’, and that any official access to the Downing Street garden should be ‘by invitation only and in a controlled environment’.

Number 10 / Flickr

The report concluded by acknowledging that a number of these gatherings ‘should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did’.

It reads: “There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across Government. This does not need to wait for the police investigations to be concluded.”

Gray sent her report to Johnson this morning, with a Cabinet Office spokesperson saying: “We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the prime minister.”

Gray, a senior civil servant, was tasked with investigating the allegations of rule-breaking parties and gatherings within Number 10 during the 2020 lockdowns.

The parties first came to light the day before the investigation was announced on December 7th 2021, when ITV News obtained footage of the Prime Minister’s former advisor laughing and joking about a Christmas party involving ‘cheese and wine’ during one of the national lockdowns.