Boris braces for Partygate report in DAYS ‘including photos of No10 bashes’

Boris Johnson today dismissed claims he had sought to influence the Partygate report as he braces for the verdict within days – and the emergence of photographs of bashes in No10.

The PM insisted it will not be ‘much longer’ until Sue Gray delivers her conclusions about lockdown breaches in Whitehall, after Scotland Yard wrapped up their investigation last week.   

Downing Street has indicated it will not resist the inclusion of potentially dozens of images from events that broke the rules, in the hope they can help convince the public that there were not ‘raves’ going on.

But there are claims Cabinet Secretary Simon Case is facing particularly heavy criticism from Ms Gray, even though he was not personally fined over the scandal.

Meanwhile, No10 has denied that Mr Johnson organised talks with Ms Gray about her investigation, insisting that there was only a ‘procedural’ discussion that she ‘instigated’. 

On a visit to a school in south-east London, Mr Johnson said he would not give a ‘running commentary’.

Asked if the report was still an independent one, the premier said: ‘Of course, but on the process you are just going to have to hold your horses a little bit longer.

‘I don’t believe it will be too much longer and then I will be able to say a bit more.’

The report is being finalised after the conclusion of the separate inquiry by the Metropolitan Police, which saw 83 people handed at least one fixed penalty notice each in relation to eight separate dates. 

Mr Johnson received just one fine, for his 56th birthday gathering in June 2020 when indoor mixing was banned – the same event that saw both his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak given penalties.

Downing Street breathed a sigh of relief last week after police confirmed they would not be getting any further punishments.

However, there have been reports Mr Case will come in for ‘stinging criticism’ in the Gray report.

‘As the head of the civil service, the ultimate responsibility was his,’ one source told the Telegraph.

Meanwhile, there is a row about a meeting between Mr Johnson and Ms Gray, which took place several weeks ago.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said reports of the meeting was a ‘new low’ for the Government.

During a tour of a large Sainsbury’s store in Nine Elms, south London, on Monday, Sir Keir urged for Ms Gray’s full report into partygate to be published as soon as possible.

He told journalists: ‘I always had a concern that as we got to the publication of the Sue Gray report, there will be attempts by the Government to undermine her and undermine the report.

‘That’s what we’ve seen going on over the weekend in recent days, a new low for the Government.

‘What we do know is there was industrial-scale law-breaking in Downing Street – over 120 fines. So what we need now is the full report, all of the evidence.

‘It’s the least the public is entitled to from this Government.’

But Treasury minister Simon Clarke said in a round of interviews this morning: ‘It is my understanding that the meeting was instigated by Ms Gray.’

He continued: ‘There are lots of practical questions here that need to be bottomed out in terms of, for example, who can be named in this report and the extent to which photographic evidence can be included. It is important that those practical dimensions are resolved.’

He added: ‘I think the one thing I would say about Sue Gray, and I have never met her but I have heard a great deal about her, is that by repute she is one of the most fiercely independent and professional civil servants in the whole of Government and brings a vast range of experience to bear, so I don’t think there is any politics.’

He said: ‘In no way do I think there is anything other than a practical dimension to the question of when it comes out, now that the police have concluded their investigation.’

Mr Clarke also confirmed that there is consideration of whether photos should be included in the report.

‘It’s obviously a very complicated one in terms of what can or cannot be said about, for example, naming, for example, junior civil servants, inclusion of questions, like photos, these are things which need to be bottomed out as a technical issue before publication, and rightly so because there are very considerable legal and personal sensitivities to that information potentially being disclosed,’ he said. 

‘And it’s that which, as I understand it lies at the heart of the remaining discussions before publication. 

Meanwhile, Tory MP Laura Farris suggested she may resign as a ministerial aide at the Foreign Office in order to continue in her role on the Commons Privileges Committee, which is set to investigate whether the PM intentionally misled Parliament over partygate.

Ms Farris, who is currently both a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) and a member of the committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour programme the two roles were ‘incompatible’ in the circumstances, and ‘that has to be resolved this week’.

‘One or other will go. If I am to remain on the committee, I will resign as a PPS so that there isn’t that conflict,’ she said.

Asked which option she was leaning towards, she said she thought it would be ‘the right thing to do’ to stay on the committee.

The committee’s chairman, Labour MP Chris Bryant, previously recused himself from the parliamentary investigation, having made his views on Mr Johnson’s conduct plain in the media.