Comedian Joe Lycett causes panic in government with fake Sue Gray report

Joe Lycett apparently caused quite the panic in parliament today with his fake Sue Gray report.

The comedian shared his own spoof version of the report – which is investigating the numerous parties held at Number 10 during the 2020 lockdowns – onto Twitter this morning, alongside the caption: “BREAKING: Leaked Sue Gray report reveals shocking abuse of the rules. Hard to see how the PM can cling on after this.”

Lycett’s report included a comical list of findings in the ‘leak’, with references to WhatsApp group chats named ‘Definitely a Meeting’ and ‘Down It Street’. 

The ‘report’ also references the Prime Minister’s wife Carrie Johnson, who was apparently discussing her husband’s brood as varying between ‘as few as four and as many as sixty kids’ at one of the alleged parties.

While Lycett’s report was quick to go viral, the majority of people with the ability to read could see almost instantly that the whole thing was a parody, mostly thanks to the inclusion of wildly informal abbreviations like ‘lol’ and a reference to the horror flick The Human Centipede.

The report also claimed Sue’s email was ‘ItsAllSueGravyBaby@aol.com’, which could have been another clue.

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However, the comedian has now revealed that the humorous report was taken a little too seriously, with a ‘verified’ source who works for a cabinet minister claiming that MPs’ staff were ‘running around panicking’ after seeing the tweet.

The screen shotted messages, which appear to have been sent via Instagram, show a Whitehall worker saying: “I work in Parliament for the Conservatives and I think u [sic] need to know your tweet this morning was read as an actual serious leak from Sue Gray’s report.”

Lycett was then informed that his report ‘had MP staff literally running around panicking from what it said’, saying that some were even panic dialling MPs to ‘discuss this right now’. 

The source clearly found the whole thing hilarious, with them sending a series of laughing face emojis and a congratulatory message: “Absolutely legendary work well done”. 

And, of course, members of the public have been relishing in the blunder, though many have pointed out the cause for concern, with one Twitter user writing: “It’s funny until you remember the people that thought this was serious literally run the country.”

Another noted: “It’s scary that anyone could believe it was real by the time you get to the end of it. They must be assuming the worst.”

Sue Gray’s report into the Downing Street parties was due yesterday, January 26th. It is unknown when it will be published.