PM Boris Johnson made a statement on the long-awaited Sue Gray report in the House of Commons yesterday:
Mr Speaker, with permission I would like to make a statement.
First I want to express my deepest gratitude to Sue Gray, and all the people who have contributed to this report, which I have placed in the Library of this House and the government has published in full today, for everyone to read.
I will address its findings in this statement – but firstly I want to say: sorry. Sorry for the things we simply did not get right and sorry for the way that this matter has been handled. It is no use saying that this or that was within the rules. It is no use saying that people were working hard.
This pandemic was hard for everyone. We asked people across this country to make the most extraordinary sacrifices, not to meet loved ones, not to visit relatives before they died, and I understand the anger that people feel.
But, Mr Speaker, it is not enough to say sorry. This is a moment when we must look at ourselves in the mirror and we must learn. And while the Metropolitan Police must yet complete their investigation – and that means there are no details of specific events in Sue Gray’s report – I, of course, accept Sue Gray’s general findings in full, and above all her recommendation that we must learn from these events and act now.
With respect to the events under police investigation, she says – and I quote – “No conclusions should be drawn, or inferences made from this other than it is now for the police to consider the relevant material in relation to those incidents.”
But more broadly she finds that – “There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across Government. This does not need to wait for the police investigations to be concluded.”
That is why we are making changes now to the way Downing Street and the Cabinet Office run so that we can get on with the job, the job that I was elected to do and that this government was elected to do.
First, it is time to sort out what Sue Gray rightly calls the “fragmented and complicated” leadership structures of Downing Street which she says have not evolved sufficiently to meet the demands of the expansion of Number ten.
And we will do that, including by creating an Office of the Prime Minister, with a Permanent Secretary to lead Number ten. Second, Mr Speaker, it is clear from Sue Gray’s report that it is time not just to review the Civil Service and Special Adviser codes of conduct wherever necessary to ensure they take account of Sue Gray’s recommendations but also to make sure those codes are properly enforced.
And third, I will be saying more in the coming days about the steps we will take to improve the Number ten operation and the work of the Cabinet Office to strengthen Cabinet Government and to improve the vital connection between Number ten and parliament.
Mr Speaker, I get it and I will fix it. And I want to say to the people of this country. I know what the issue is, it is whether this government can be trusted to deliver and I say yes we can be trusted yes we can be trusted to deliver.
We said we would deliver Brexit and we did. We are setting up freeports across the whole United Kingdom, I’ve been to one of them today, which is creating tens of thousands of new jobs Mr Speaker.
We said we would get this country through Covid and we did, we delivered the fastest vaccine roll out in Europe and the fastest booster programme of any major economy so that we have been able to restore people’s freedoms faster than any comparable economy and at the same time as we have been cutting crime by fourteen per cent and building 40 new hospitals and rolling out gigabit broadband, and delivering on all the other promises of that 2019 agenda so that we have the fastest economic growth in the G7.
We have shown that we can do things people thought were impossible and that we can deliver for the British people.
The reason we are coming out of Covid so fast is at least partly because we doubled the speed of the booster rollout and I can tell the House and this country, that we are going to bring the same energy and commitment to getting on with the job to delivering for the British people and to our mission to unite and level up across the country.
And I commend this Statement to the House.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer’s response:
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I would like to thank Sue Gray for the diligence and professionalism with which she has carried out her work.
It is no fault of hers that she only been able to provide an update. And not yet the full report.
The Prime Minister repeatedly told the House that all guidance were followed at all time.
We now know that 12 cases, 12 cases, have reached the threshold for criminal investigation – which I remind the House means that there is evidence of serious and flagrant breaches of lockdown, including:
The party on 20 May 2020, which we know the PM attended, and the party on the 13 November 2020 in the PM’s flat. There can be no doubt the Prime Minister is now under criminal investigation.
The PM must keep his promise to publish Sue Gray’s report in full when it is available, but it is already clear that the report discloses the most damning conclusion possible.
Over the last two years the British public have been asked to make the most heart wrenching sacrifices.
A terrible collective trauma. Endured by all, enjoyed by none.
Funerals have been missed. Dying relatives unvisited.
Every family has been marked by what we’ve been through.
And revelations about the Prime Minister’s behaviour have forced us all to relive and rethink those darkest moments.
Many have been overcome by rage, grief, and even guilt.
Guilt – that because they stuck to the law they did not see their parents one last time.
Guilt – that because they didn’t bend the rules their children went months without seeing friends.
Guilt – that because they did as they were asked they didn’t go and visit lonely relatives.
But people shouldn’t feel guilty. They should feel pride in themselves and in their country. Because by abiding by those rules. They have saved the lives of people they will probably never meet.
They have shown the deep public spirit. And the love and respect for others that has always characterised this nation at its best.
Our national story about Covid is one of a people that stood up when it was tested. But that will forever be tainted by the behaviour of this Conservative Prime Minister.
By routinely breaking the rules he set, the Prime Minister took us all for fools. He held people’s sacrifice in contempt. He showed himself unfit for office.
His desperate denials since he was exposed have only made matters worse.
First, the Prime Minister said there were no parties. Then he said he was sickened and furious about the parties.
Then it turned out he was there. Rather than come clean, every step of the way he has offended the public’s intelligence.
Finally, he’s fallen back on his usual excuse – it’s everybody’s fault but his. They go, he stays.
Even now, he is hiding behind a police investigation into criminality in his home, and in his office. He gleefully treats what should be a mark of shame as a welcome shield.
But, Prime Minister, the British public aren’t fools.
They never believed a word of it. They think the Prime Minister should do the decent thing and resign.
Of course, he won’t. Because he is a man without shame.
And just as he has done throughout his life. He is damaging everyone and everything around him along the way.
His colleagues have spent weeks defending the indefensible.
Touring the TV studios parroting his absurd denials. Degrading themselves and their offices.
Fraying the bond of trust between the Government and the public, eroding our democracy and the rule of law.
Margaret Thatcher once said: ‘The first duty of Government is to uphold the law. If it tries to bob and weave and duck around that duty when it is inconvenient, then so will the governed.’
To govern this country is an honour. Not a birth-right. It’s an act of service to the British people. Not the keys to a court to parade to your friends.
It requires honesty. Integrity. And moral authority.
I cannot tell you how many times people have said to me that this Prime Minister’s lack of integrity is somehow “priced in”.
That his behaviour and character don’t matter. I have never accepted that. And I never will accept that.
Whatever your politics. Whatever party you vote for. Honesty and decency matter. Our great democracy depends on it. And cherishing and nurturing British democracy is what it means to be patriotic.
There are members opposite who know that. And they know the Prime Minister is incapable of it.
The question they must ask themselves is what are they going to do about it?
They can go on degrading themselves. Eroding trust in politics. And insulting the sacrifice of the British public.
They can heap their reputations, the reputation of their party, and the reputation of this country, on the bonfire that is his leadership.
Or they can spare the country from a Prime Minister totally unworthy of his responsibilities.
It is their duty to do so.
They know better than anyone how unsuitable he is for high office.
Many of them knew in their hearts that we would inevitably come to this moment.
And they know that as night follows day, continuing his leadership will mean further misconduct, cover-up, and deceit.
It is only they who can end this farce. The eyes of the country are upon them. They will be judged on the decisions they take now.
SUE GRAY’S INTERIM REPORT IN FULL:
Searches for ‘Boris Resign’ soar 458% after Sue Gray report is released
Analysis of Google search data reveals that online searches for ‘Boris Resign’ exploded 458% in the UK on the 31st of January, hours after Sue Gray’s report was published on the Downing Street parties, held whilst lockdown restrictions were in place.
A new finding by online tax calculator Income Tax UK reveals that online searches for ‘Boris Resign’ skyrocketed to almost five times the average volume in a matter of hours, an unprecedented spike in people Googling for the Prime Minister to leave his position in No.10.
The report, published on Monday 31st January, detailed the breaches of lockdown rules by members of the government including the Prime Minister, resulting in calls for Boris Johnson to step down.
A spokesperson for Income Tax UK commented on the findings: “The Sue Gray report finds that events held by senior members of the government ‘shouldn’t have been allowed to take place’, leading Brits to question the leadership of those running the country.
“These findings reveal the bitter taste that the public hold towards the actions of the Prime Minister and his cabinet, with the report prompting the highest rise in searches calling for the Prime Minister to resign in the last year. It will be fascinating to see if these searches will translate to votes in future elections.”