LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Top officials who violated the Covid lockdown rules at the parties in and around Downing Street are to be named by Sue Gray.
After the Met Police’s conclusion of their investigation, the senior civil servant is free now to publish her full report on the parties.
The 83 people who have been penalised haven’t been named by the Met.
Ms Gray, on the other hand, is contacting the people she wants to name ahead of her report’s release next week.
It is understood that people who are expected to be named are given until 5 p.m. Sunday to respond to information she wants to publish about them.
PM Johnson said it would be completely up to Sue Gray to pick who will be named when she publishes her findings, adding, “fingers crossed, that will be very soon.”
Mr Johnson had shown a “lack of leadership,” according to Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and he should take “personal responsibility” for what had happened.
Mr Johnson, Carrie, his wife and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were penalised by Downing Street last month for breaking Covid restrictions at Mr Johnson’s No 10 birthday celebration in June 2020.
It was widely thought that the PM would be penalised again over other parties, but he has been told that no more action will be taken against him.
The Met has confirmed that certain officials are being fined for attending a party in the No. 10 garden in May 2020, which Mr Johnson didn’t attend and for which he was not fined.
The force has not revealed how many incidents resulted in penalties or detailed information about the circumstances that led to persons getting them.
Its four-month investigation, which cost £460,000, resulted in 126 fines for incidents in and around Downing Street.
Some Conservative MPs have previously stated that they will wait until the entire Gray report is released before making a decision on Mr Johnson’s future.
It’s possible that the people Ms Gray wishes to name in her report will object to what’s being said about them, delaying publication.
According to a source acquainted with the inquiry, her conclusion might be that there were trails of evidence pointing to the PM being poorly advised and unaware of the events he was stumbling into.
Her preliminary report, released in January, did not name people but criticised “leadership and judgement failings” and stated that some incidents had not been “allowed to take place.”
The FDA union, which represents senior civil officials, said there was no reason for naming persons in the Met investigation, according to Dave Penman, FDA’s boss.
But, he added, Ms Gray would have to walk a finer line in her report, balancing “sensitivity around naming someone publicly against the important need for public scrutiny of senior officials”.
He was more concerned, though, with junior officials being named.
