PM's future in doubt after report on illegal partying at the top

In its long history of democratic government, the UK has had prime ministers who held office for long periods, others who were there for the blink of an eye.

Right now, we have a prime minister who might best be described as on probation.

What has outraged many ordinary people and brought Boris Johnson to the brink of defenestration by his own MPs is the way pandemic lockdown rules were spurned by his own officials.

According to an investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray, 16 social gatherings took place at 10 Downing Street (one in the Johnsons’ own flat) and in the Cabinet Office between May 2020 and April 2021, when all such contacts were banned. The Prime Minister attended three of them.

Press reports have talked of a “bring your own booze” invitation from a senior civil servant, of a party for Johnson’s birthday and a “victory” celebration on the night that the PM’s adviser, Dominic Cummings, was sacked.

Ms Gray said her report was limited because police were investigating the events and that a full account would be published later.

However, her initial findings pulled no punches.

She said there had been “failures of leadership and judgment” at the top and behaviour that was “difficult to justify” when the public was being asked to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives.

Some events should not have been allowed to take place and others should not have been allowed to develop as they did.

Ms Gray added that “the excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time”.

Newspapers have been full of people recounting their anguish at not being permitted to see or hug their loved ones in care homes or hospitals or attend funerals because of the lockdown prohibitions, while those who wrote the rules were busy breaking them.

Johnson reacted to the Gray report by apologising in Parliament. He said he was “sorry for the things we did not get right and sorry for the way the matter has been handled. I understand the anger that people feel. We must look at ourselves in the mirror and we must learn”.

A number of senior Conservative MPs were unconvinced, including ex-PM Teresa May, who asked whether Johnson believed the rules did not apply to Number 10.

For some, this may have brought to mind a letter written by Johnson’s classics master at Eton College. Addressed to the then 17-year-old’s father, the letter criticised the young Johnson for “thinking that he should be free of the network of obligations that binds everyone else”.

Having survived the first round of the Gray report, Johnson headed off to Ukraine on a peace mission, no doubt delighted to be out of the firing line at home. His future, however, remains in doubt.

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A government MP’s claim of Islamophobia in the House of Commons, specifically that she was sacked from her post as Transport Minister because she was Muslim has been supported by another Muslim MP, Afzal Khan.

While a Cabinet Office inquiry is going on into ex-Minister Nusrat Ghani’s allegations, Mr Khan said Muslim politicians at the House of Commons were subjected to more security checks than others.

The Labour MP who entered Parliament in 2017 said, “I noticed quickly that I was increasingly stopped by security officers who demanded to see my pass. I often wondered why my white counterparts were not being harassed in the same way.”

Ms Ghani said she was sacked in 2020 after being told her “Muslimness” was “making other colleagues uncomfortable”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “This is something I take extremely seriously,” and ordered an inquiry.

As to Mr Khan’s claims, a House of Commons spokesman, said, “We are truly sorry that any member of our parliamentary community feels discriminated against. We remain committed to listening to our colleagues and taking action to reduce inequality in Parliament.”