the times | Thursday May 26 2022 2GM 7News
PMQs concentrating on the
economy. The prime minister
ab-dabbed and meandered but
eventually surfed a wave of Labour
noise to whack the dispatch box,
boggle his eyes and say Starmer
campaigned in 2019 for the great
tax-raising manifesto of “Vladimir
Corbyn”.
Not until 12.42pm did we reach
the statement on the Gray report.
“This is my first opportunity.. .”
began a stalling Johnson. “To
resign!” cried an SNP voice.
“Shush!” went those anxious to hear
what excuse he could devise. He
claimed it had been right for him to
thank Downing Street staff for their
work. Cabinet ministers on the front
bench listened, as if frozen. The only
one to move was the chief whip,
Chris Heaton-Harris, who suddenly
clutched his leg, savaged by a bout
of cramp.
Starmer spoke of “this catalogue
of criminality” and invited Johnson
to “do the decent thing and step
down”. This tempting invitation was
somehow resisted. Instead the PM
found some fight, calling his
opponent “Sir Beer Korma”. The
“great, gaseous Zeppelin of hispomposity” had sprung a puncture
owing to his Durham beer and
curry carry-on. While Starmer was
speaking, a Tory wit shouted “it’s
your round”.
After Starmer, eyes turned to
Lady May (C, Maidenhead). Would
she rise? Would she plunge the
poignard?’ No. Johnson’s
predecessor stayed in her seat.
That felt a significant moment.
There were a few sniper shots from
the Tory benches. Tobias Ellwood
(Bournemouth East) predicted
election defeat unless Johnson was
ditched. Aaron Bell (Newcastle-
under-Lyme) asked if Gray had
been leant on. Bell was
unimpressed by the non-answer he
received. Two further moments of
peril: questions from Sir Robert
Buckland (South Swindon) and
Robert Jenrick (Newark), both
sacked from the cabinet by
Johnson. Both stayed loyal.
The “half-arsed” comment, since
you ask, came from Christian
Wakeford (Lab, Bury South).
Starmer used the expression in the
Commons in March. They’ll be
saying it from the pulpit of
Canterbury cathedral before long.substantial”. It was certainly that for
Johnson. The Sue Gray report
popped out just before 11.30am.
Within seconds it was evident the
photographs were less juicy than
they might have been. Had the
village, by now at warp factor five
frenzy, overworked itself?
By 11.55am Sir Keir Starmer
arrived on the green benches yet a
full Commons lacked the tingle it
can acquire at moments of genuine
astonishment. Johnson entered to
exaggerated cheers. Beside him was
his chief of staff, Steve Barclay, who
must need the nerves of a driving
instructor not to spend his waking
hours in a perpetual scream of
terror.
The Gray report was due to be
discussed after PMQs but the SNP’s
Ian Blackford could not wait. He
used his PMQs slot to deplore the
“drinking and debauchery” of
Downing Street. Johnson was
“surrounded by drink”, hollered
Blackford, an unexpected recruit to
the Wee Frees. “Time is up,” he
cried. Tory MPs, noticing that the
Scots anchorite had been droning
away for ages, roared “yes it is!”
Starmer had a fruitful time attime-limited, that no one was to travel
into the office specially and that it
should be socially distanced”. However,
Gray found that “this did not happen”,
with mingling, beer and prosecco at the
event, at which Bowler made a speech.
Josephs, who is on paid leave from
her new job as chief executive of Shef-
field council while it investigates the
scandal, reiterated her “unequivocal
apology” yesterday. The Department
for International Trade, where Bowler
is now permanent secretary, said:
“James Bowler was neither fined nor
received a questionnaire from police.”No civil servants have been disciplined
in connection with the No 10 parties,
including those who authorised them.
Simon Case, the cabinet secretary,
has not apologised for his role in the
gatherings. Martin Reynolds, who as
Boris Johnson’s principal private
secretary organised a “bring your own
booze” party, remains in line to become
ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Junior officials not named in the
Gray report are unlikely to face action
because their bosses do not know of
their attendance at illegal parties, even
if they were fined. Gray said disciplin-
ary action was “outside of the scope of
this report and is for others to consider”
and has not given the names of rule-
breaking civil servants to bosses.
Johnson said: “Everybody who is in
any way involved in this whole sorry
business has got to learn the lessons,”
but rejected questions about discip-
linary action. He said he had not been
given the names of those who had been
rude to cleaners and guards.
After Johnson was asked at a meetingof the 1922 Committee of Conservative
MPs yesterday about the suggestion of
an alcohol ban in No 10, a party source
said: “He made the point he’s not a big
drinker himself but had alcohol been
banned in 1940 we might not have won
the Second World War. The fact about
No 10 is there is an alcohol policy that
now sets guidelines to its use.” The
source added that “there’s recognition
that part of decompressing at the end of
a long day involves having a drink”.
Civil service executives are yet to
start any disciplinary proceedings and,
although they have not ruled out acting
once they have studied the findings, a
senior Whitehall source said that offi-
cials would try to avoid doing so and
would wait for the affair to blow over.
The report criticised “failures of lead-
ership and judgment” at the heart of
government and said: “The senior lead-
ership at the centre, both political and
official, must bear responsibility.”
Reynolds invited about 200 staff to
drinks in the No 10 garden in May 2020
telling them to “bring your own booze!”,
ignoring reservations from some
officials and later boasting that “We
seem to have got away with it”.
He also arranged a leaving party on
June 18, 2020, for Hannah Young, a
No 10 official, which Case attended;
and was at a later part of the party at
which staff brought pizza and prosecco
and Helen MacNamara, deputy cabinet
secretary, set up a karaoke machine.
James Bowler, then the second per-
manent secretary at the Cabinet Office
and head of the Covid task force,
approved a leaving event for Kate
Josephs, one of his senior officials, in
December 2020 “on the basis that it wasMartin Reynolds
told a colleague:
“We seem to have
got away with it”News
delight at getting away with it
Mandarins who
organised parties
escape discipline
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor Analysis
I
f champagne corks were not
popping in No 10 last night,
it is only because even
Boris Johnson might find it a
little insensitive (Chris
Smyth writes). But there is no
doubt that the prime minister
came out of what might have
been the most dangerous day of
his premiership not only defiant,
but even emboldened.
Sue Gray’s findings of
organised drinks, karaoke and
vomiting make sobering reading
and the senior civil servant
judged there was “no excuse” for
some of the behaviour in
Downing Street. Yet Gray does
not criticise the prime minister
directly, sticking to a narrative
account that leaves it to readers
to draw their own conclusions.
Yesterday, most Tory MPs did
their best to avoid doing so. Even
confirmed critics of Johnson said
there was no “smoking gun” and
only one new MP called for him
to quit. Johnson, though, is far
from out of the woods. If
backbenchers did not condemn
him, most did not back him. Only
a few Tory MPs spoke up for him
in the Commons and last night’s
meeting of the 1922 Committee
of Conservative backbenchers
was described as subdued.
At some point, Tory MPs will
be unable to avoid making a
public choice about whether to
back Johnson. The prime
minister’s strategy is clear: he
apologised for mistakes, but
argued that the report largely
cleared him, and that after
months of distraction it is time to
move on.
Voters have largely made up
their minds, with YouGov finding
yesterday that 59 per cent think
Johnson will resign. Tory rebels
are now focused on two
by-elections next month in
Wakefield and Tiverton,
suggesting that if the
Conservatives lose both it could
trigger a leadership ballot. That,
at least, clarifies the grounds on
which most Tory MPs are now
making their choice. As one of
them says: “It’s about electability
now, not morality.”LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES
Boris Johnson
defended himself
at a press
conference
yesterday. He still
faces an inquiry by
a parliamentary
committee