Wed, Feb 02, 2022 page3

• Report finds ‘failures’ in No. 10 parties

  LOCKDOWN PARTY: A report into alleged partying in Boris Johnson’s apartment found ‘failures in leadership and judgement,’ but did not say whether he misled lawmakers

  • The Guardian
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  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been left desperately trying to shore up his leadership after a report by senior civil servant Sue Gray report as detectives were revealed to be investigating 300 photographs and 12 events in Downing Street, including a party in the prime minister’s private apartment.

  Johnson faced a wall of anger from Conservative lawmakers in the British House of Commons after Gray’s investigation concluded that many of the 16 parties were “difficult to justify” and condemned “failures of leadership and judgment” in No. 10 and the Cabinet Office.

  Scotland Yard officers have obtained more than 300 photos and 500 pages of documents.

  

  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the Tilbury Docks in Tilbury, England, on Monday last week.

  Photo: AP

  The images include pictures taken at alleged parties and from security cameras showing people entering and exiting buildings, the Guardian understands.

  Conservative grandees were among those who made stinging interventions criticising Johnson’s conduct, with his predecessor, former British prime minister Theresa May, questioning his comprehension of the rules and the former chief whip Andrew Mitchell saying the prime minister no longer had his support.

  Angela Richardson, a Conservative aide, said she had resigned her government job last week citing “disappointment” with the prime minister, while Aaron Bell, a lawmaker from the 2019 intake, gave an emotionally charged speech accusing Johnson of making him look like a fool after he stuck to the rules during his grandmother’s funeral.

  However, Johnson appeared to have staved off an immediate challenge by pledging a shakeup of his Downing Street operation and belatedly promising to publish Gray’s full blow-by-blow account of the parties once the police have finished investigating.

  He later made a rare address to all his lawmakers, announcing changes to his No. 10 staff in the coming days.

  He suggested that his former election guru, Sir Lynton Crosby, would be returning to help in an unofficial role.

  Conservatives were initially dismayed by Johnson’s defiant Commons performance in which he refused to commit to publishing Gray’s full report, which was redacted following the announcement of a Metropolitan police inquiry.

  However, after former ministers, including Mark Harper and Tobias Ellwood, pressed him for a full and unredacted publication, he was forced into a U-turn.

  Several Conservative lawmakers opposed to the prime minister’s continued leadership said they were witnessing “death by 1,000 cuts” and questioned why more of their colleagues were not submitting letters of no confidence.

  At least 54 are needed for a ballot on Johnson’s leadership, but even sharp critics like Mitchell are not believed to have handed in letters.

  One lawmaker said Johnson’s determination to keep fighting meant removing him would be “extremely painful” and cause huge damage to the party, while another said it was clear Conservative lawmakers would at some point need to “get the screwdrivers out to prize his hands off the doors of Downing Street.”

  The 12-page Gray report identified “failures of leadership and judgement” but left many questions unanswered, including whether Johnson had misled the Commons by denying parties took place and saying all COVID-19 rules were followed.

  Ian Blackford, the Scottish National Party Westminster leader, was thrown out of the Commons for breaching protocol by repeatedly accusing the prime minister of having “lied and misled” parliament.

  Lawmakers said the most damaging allegation was of a party on Nov. 13, 2020, the evening that former aide Dominic Cummings quit, in Boris and Carrie Johnson’s apartment. There had been reports of loud music and partying heard in the press office below, and the alleged gathering is now under police investigation.

  The prime minister refused to tell parliament whether he was present in the apartment that evening. He had previously denied in the Commons that any party took place on that date.

  Johnson was also present for at least one other of the parties under investigation by police — the “bring your own booze” affair in the Downing Street garden on May 20, 2020.
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