The Times - UK (2021-12-21)

8 2GM Tuesday December 21 2021 | the times

News

NHS medics have expressed anger at
Downing Street staff who were photo-
gaphed drinking at No 10 during lock-
down as the government continued to
defend the gathering.
They and members of the public
posted pictures of loved ones they were
unable to see on the day Boris Johnson
gathered with staff over cheese and
wine in his garden in May last year.
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime
minister, argued that Downing Street
staff deserved a drink because they had
been working so hard on the pandemic.
He said that the image of Johnson, his
wife and 17 others in the garden last
year was “staff having a drink after a
busy set of work meetings”. He also de-
fended Carrie Johnson’s presence.
No 10 denied last week that there was
a social event on Friday, May 15, 2020,
at which guests enjoyed wine, spirits
and pizza inside and outside the build-
ing. They insisted that it had been a
work meeting.
The picture obtained by The Guardi-
an shows a bottle of wine and suggests
that social distancing was not observed
by the groups of people on the Downing
Street terrace and lawn. At the time
social mixing between households was
limited to two people. In workplaces,
face-to-face meetings were allowed
only if “absolutely necessary”.
On the same day, Matt Hancock,
then the health secretary, held a news
conference to urge people to follow the
rules and not to socialise outside
despite good weather that weekend.
An investigation into No 10 parties is
expected to include the May gathering.
Some in government appeared to point
the finger at Rishi Sunak’s team for
leaking the photo, suggesting that it
had been taken from a room used by
Treasury special advisers.
Member of the public shared photos
of what they were doing on May 15,
2020, many of them angry that sticking
to national guidelines meant they were

unable to see loved ones. Stephen

Laughton posted a photograph of his

mother at her front door. “[This] is the

last photo I have of my mum alive in

May 2020. Living alone with serious ill-

ness, she faced the pandemic with sto-

icism,” he wrote. “We went for a walk

around her local park. When she sug-

gested sitting 2m apart in her garden, I

said: better not, it’s against the rules.”

Dr Ajay Verma, a gastroenterologist,

shared a photograph of a stark hospital

ward where socially distanced staff

wearing masks are holding a minute’s

silence in memory of those who died

France and Belgium approve

jabs for children aged five

france

France’s health authority has approved

vaccinations for 5 to 11-year-olds. The

government said the injections could

begin tomorrow. France began vacci-

nating children with health risks last

week, citing “the fifth wave due to the

Delta variant and the appearance of the

Omicron variant”. Belgium’s health

ministers also agreed yesterday to

extend vaccinations to children aged 5

to 11.

austria

As the last few regions in Austria re-

opened restaurants and hotels yester-

day, the country reported 1,792 new

coronavirus infections in 24 hours, the

lowest number since October, and

down from daily highs of about 13,

cases in late November.

south africa

President Ramaphosa has returned to

work after spending a week in isolation

following a positive Covid test, his

office said yesterday. Ramaphosa, 69,

who is fully vaccinated, felt unwell after

leaving a state memorial service for

former president FW de Klerk in Cape

Town on December 12 as his nation

battles an exponential increase in cases

of the Omicron variant.

japan

A cluster of coronavirus infections

linked to a US military base in Japan

has grown to at least 180, Japan’s gov-

ernment said yesterday, raising fears

over the spread of the virus in the

community. The latest cluster included

Japanese workers and US personnel,

Japanese officials said.

Profile

B

oris Johnson

came to power

promising to

tame the

government

“blob” and end “the days

of Whitehall knows best”.

He now finds that his

premiership rests in the

hands of the ultimate

arbiter of the civil service

way of doing things

(Chris Smyth writes).

Sue Gray might dismiss

the descriptions of her

as a Whitehall titan as

“hilarious”, but for a

string of ministers and

officials it has been no

laughing matter. As head

of the Whitehall ethics

unit for six years, she had

a hand in the departure

of two cabinet ministers

and ruled on who could

sit in the Commons and

the Lords.

Gray, 64, was described

by Sir Oliver Letwin as

the woman who really

ran Britain. “Unless she

agrees, things don’t

happen. Cabinet

reshuffles,

department-

al reorgan-

isations, the

lot — it’s all

down to Sue

Gray,” Letwin told the

former chief secretary to

the Treasury, David Laws.

Critics have accused

her of wielding

unaccountable influence

through informal

conversations that leave

no paper trail and so can

never be challenged. Both

they and her admirers say

that her ultimate

loyalty is to the

civil service

rather than

any individual

or policy.

So it was a

surprise when

she left

Whitehall in

2018 to become

permanent secretary of

the Northern Ireland

finance ministry. This

year she came back to

London as second

permanent secretary at

the Cabinet Office after

she failed to become head

of the Northern Ireland

civil service. Earlier this

year, she suggested that

she “perhaps was too

much of a disrupter” for

the role. “Perhaps I

would bring about... too

much change,” she said.

In her investigation

into parties in Downing

Street, Gray has it in her

power to bring that

disruption — and great

change — to No 10.

Sue Gray ran

the ethics unit

Whitehall titan with power to upset PM

et loyalt

civi

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an

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su

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Wh

222018

News Coronavirus

Public outraged at

No 10 drinks for

staff ’s ‘hard work’

during the pandemic. He wrote: “On

Friday 15th May 2020 at 1pm we held a

minute’s silence on our ward (and

throughout our hospital) in memory of

those who died from Covid — little did

we know that the PM & friends were

enjoying a garden party that same

afternoon.”

A lung oncology cancer nurse spe-

cialist shared a selfie showing her face

imprinted from wearing PPE with the

caption: “This was me in May 2020 —

exhausted, emotionally and physically

spent. I don’t have words for how I feel

looking at Boris and his cheese and

wine party that was going on at the

same time. Seriously what does it take

to get the Tories out?!”

A mother posted a picture of her son

speaking to his grandmother through a

window. She wrote: “May the 14th 2020.

My Son seeing his nanny through a

window, whilst before he saw her for

cuddles every day. Broke my heart.

Heart is angry now.”

Sue Gray, a former director of propri-

ety and ethics who works in Michael

Gove’s department for levelling up, has

replaced Simon Case, the cabinet sec-

retary, to oversee an investigation into

Christmas parties held at No 10.

Gray’s terms of reference allow her to

investigate “credible allegations relat-

ing to other gatherings”. Martin Reyn-

olds, the prime minister’s principal

private secretary, who appears to be sit-

ting next to Johnson in the picture, will

not be involved in the inquiry.

Ed Balls, who was chief economic ad-

viser to the Treasury under Gordon

Brown, tweeted: “I’m pretty sure this is

the view from the 11 Downing Street

first floor balcony.”

A government source said the photo

was “definitely taken from Treasury

quarters” but stopped short of explicitly

blaming Sunak’s staff for leaking it.

Treasury sources insisted the photo

had not come from them, saying that in

May last year the room in question was

an empty stateroom that “anyone in

Downing Street” could walk into. It is

now used for events and functions.

What they said

Downing Street on Friday “In the

summer months Downing Street

staff regularly use the garden for

some meetings.”

Boris Johnson’s spokesman

yesterday “This [photo] shows

colleagues who were required to be

in work, meeting following a press

conference to discuss work.”

Dominic Raab yesterday “The idea

that [staff] can’t have a drink, I think

is wrong. I don’t think, particularly

after the hours that they’re putting

in, there’s anything there that

contravenes the regulations. Carrie

popped in to check in on the prime

minister... it’s frankly a bit

uncharitable for people to think that

a wife wouldn’t do that in relation to

her husband in the conditions we’re

describing.”

The Health Protection

(Coronavirus, Restrictions)

(England) Regulations 2020 in

force at the time “No person may

participate in a gathering in a public

place of more than two people

except (a) where all the persons in

the gathering are members of the

same household, (b) where the

gathering is essential for work

purposes.”

Katie Gibbons
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor