BORIS Johnson may censor parts of the report that could spell the end for his premiership this week, it emerged yesterday, as No 10 faced more claims over ‘partygate’.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the Prime Minister would decide how much of the report into the scandal by senior civil servant Sue Gray was made public, despite its importance to his future.
Refusing to commit to its publication in full, Mr Raab merely said there would be transparency around the “substance” of the findings, raising concerns the public will only see a summary.
Media reports yesterday said Mr Johnson was determined to survive the Gray report and a no confidence vote if his MPs demanded one in its wake.
However, Scottish Tory chief whip Stephen Kerr said there was now an “inevitability” about Mr Johnson being forced out of office, even if he won such a vote.
Ms Gray, a veteran Whitehall ethics investigator, has been tasked with probing claims that parties were held in No 10 and other government buildings while the country was in lockdown for the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Sunday Times reported that she has now widened her inquiry to include allegations that parties were held in Mr Johnson’s Downing Street flat involving friends of his wife Carrie.
The paper said two aides, Henry Newman and Josh Grimstone - both friends of Mrs Johnson - visited the flat on numerous occasions during lockdown.
Initially, Ms Gray was said to have accepted the visits were for work but then queried why they spent so much time in Downing Street while working, at the time, for the Cabinet Office.
Asked on the BBC’s Sunday Morning show if Ms Gray’s report would be published in full, Mr Raab said: “The process for it will be for the Prime Minister to decide.
“I think [for] the substance of the findings there will be full transparency, and indeed he has said he will come back to the House of Commons and make a statement, so there will be full scrutiny.”
Asked again about how much of the report would be public, he said: “I’m not quite sure the shape and the form it will come [in] but the Prime Minister has been clear there will be full transparency around this, so that peowould be published in full, Mr Raab said: “The process for it will be for the Prime Minister to decide.
“I think [for] the substance of the findings there will be full transparency, and indeed he has said he will come back to the House of Commons and make a statement, so there will be full scrutiny.”
Asked again about how much of the report would be public, he said: “I’m not quite sure the shape and the form it will come [in] but the Prime Minister has been clear there will be full transparency around this, so that people can see, and we would welcome that transparency.” He also hinted the Gray report could take longer than expected.
“If it takes a day or two longer – absolutely right. Sue Gray should determine that,” he said.
The report had been expected tomorrow or Wednesday.
Mr Raab, who is also the Justice Secretary, reaffirmed Mr Johnson would have to resign if he was found to have misled parliament.
“The code of conduct for ministers is very clear that if you mislead Parliament, it is a resigning matter,” he said.
Despite reports Number 10 is preparing for a confidence vote, Mr Raab insisted there was a “rallying of support behind the Prime Minister” from Tory MPs.
However, on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Kerr, a former MP, was asked if he could see Mr Johnson surviving the Gray report.
He replied: “No. I think the longer it takes for the Sue Gray report, the more detail there’s going to be in it, the more investigation will have taken place. I think there’s an inevitability to what happens next.
“It gives me absolutely, as you can imagine, no joy whatsoever to talk about a Conservative Prime Minister having to leave office, but I think that is where this ends up.”
He said that after the report emerged, he expected Tory MPs to secure a no confidence vote in the PM by writing to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee.
“Regardless of the outcome of that vote, as we saw with Theresa May, there’s an inevitability of what follows.” Mrs May won such a vote in 2018, but quit six months later.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross last week called for Mr Johnson to quit over the scandal.
Asked if Mr Johnson surviving would make Mr Ross’s position “unsustainable”, Mr Kerr said his position was “unassailable”.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Gray report must be published “in its entirety with all accompanying evidence”.
She said: “Boris Johnson cannot be allowed to cover up or obscure any of the truth, when he has insisted on a hugely protracted internal probe to tell him which parties he attended and what happened in his own home.”
Green MP Caroline Lucas said it would be “utterly unacceptable” if the PM decided how much of the Gray report was published.
“There can only be justice on this if *all* the evidence is put in the public domain – not just the bits the PM chooses,” she wrote on Twitter.
s also the Justice Secretary, reaffirmed Mr Johnson would have to resign if he was found to have misled parliament.
“The code of conduct for ministers is very clear that if you mislead Parliament, it is a resigning matter,” he said.
Despite reports Number 10 is preparing for a confidence vote, Mr Raab insisted there was a “rallying of support behind the Prime Minister” from Tory MPs.
However, on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Kerr, a former MP, was asked if he could see Mr Johnson surviving the Gray report.
He replied: “No. I think the longer it takes for the Sue Gray report, the more detail there’s going to be in it, the more investigation will have taken place. I think there’s an inevitability to what happens next.
“It gives me absolutely, as you can imagine, no joy whatsoever to talk about a Conservative Prime Minister having to leave office, but I think that is where this ends up.”
He said that after the report emerged, he expected Tory MPs to secure a no confidence vote in the PM by writing to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee.
“Regardless of the outcome of that vote, as we saw with Theresa May, there’s an inevitability of what follows.” Mrs May won such a vote in 2018, but quit six months later.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross last week called for Mr Johnson to quit over the scandal.
Asked if Mr Johnson surviving would make Mr Ross’s position “unsustainable”, Mr Kerr said his position was “unassailable”.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Gray report must be published “in its entirety with all accompanying evidence”.
She said: “Boris Johnson cannot be allowed to cover up or obscure any of the truth, when he has insisted on a hugely protracted internal probe to tell him which parties he attended and what happened in his own home.”
Green MP Caroline Lucas said it would be “utterly unacceptable” if the PM decided how much of the Gray report was published.
“There can only be justice on this if *all* the evidence is put in the public domain – not just the bits the PM chooses,” she wrote on Twitter.
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