Six months after the first revelations about parties in Downing Street during the lockdown, British politics remains mired in “partygate”. The endless saga was relaunched on Wednesday, May 25, with the full publication of Senior Official Sue Gray’s report. It had been ordered in December 2021, it was ready at the end of January, but Scotland Yard had blocked its publication, claiming to start its own investigation.
METERme Gray, a civil servant with a reputation for integrity, was only able to reveal excerpts from her work at the time, but the conclusions were already edifying: she listed 16 “meetings” problematic, between May 2020 and April 2021, noting serious “leadership failures” inside Downing Street. With the police investigation concluded in mid-May (and having resulted in the issuance of 126 health violation fines, including one for the Prime Minister and one for the Finance Minister, Rishi Sunak), nothing prevented the senior official to completely lift the veil on the actions of Boris Johnson, his cabinet and his advisers during the pandemic.
The many details provided throughout the forty pages of the document describe officials who have largely freed themselves from the draconian health regulations that they themselves had nevertheless enacted and imposed on the rest of the country: a strict ban on gatherings until summer 2020, no more than six people gathered indoors or outdoors since the fall of the same year.
“Cheese and wine”
On 15 May 2020, in full lockdown, a number of people from Downing Street, including the Prime Minister and his special adviser at the time, Dominic Cummings, gathered in Downing Street Gardens for a drink. Boris Johnson has “Brought cheese and wine” from his private apartment, located at 11 Downing Street. The garden party on May 20, 2020 had been planned for a good week and, despite some reservations expressed in particular by the director of communication at the time (Lee Cain), an email reminder was sent the same day, on behalf of Martin Reynolds, Mr. Johnson’s private secretary, to 200 addressees.
On June 18, Helen McNamara, then the chief ethics officer for the Cabinet Office, even provided karaoke equipment.
The following June 18, for a Downing Street civil servant’s farewell drink, prosecco flowed freely and Helen McNamara, then director of ethics at the Cabinet Office, even provided karaoke materials. That day, Sue Gray notes, the guests drank too much, one of them was sick, and there was even an altercation. The last guest left the premises at 3 am
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