Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab has confirmed that No 10 are set to publish Sue Gray’s report into lockdown gatherings across No 10 and Whitehall “as soon as possible”.
The full report is yet to be received by No 10.
Raab also said following the full report’s publication, Boris Johnson will address the House of Commons on the matter.
Throughout Operation Hillman, 126 fixed penalty notices were issued for breaches of Covid-19 regulations across Whitehall and Downing Street.
Some individuals received more than one fine.
Back in April, prime minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak were issued fines over a 2020 birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room.
Speaking to Times Radio following yesterday’s conclusion of the Met’s “partygate” investigation, the justice secretary said: “We await the Sue Gray final report. Obviously we have already had the interim report and the Prime Minister has acted on it, the overhaul of No 10.
“The minute we get the final report we will publish it as soon as possible and the Prime Minister said he will come to the House of Commons and take questions so that we again have that additional tier of transparency and accountability.”
Quizzed over whether he thought officials mentioned in the report ought to be named, Raab argued that this is “a matter for the police and for Sue Gray.”
“Again, I think it is really important, I have said this all along, allow those independent processes to come to their conclusions in the right way,” he went on.
When pressed on whether namechecking individuals would benefit transparency, Raab explained : “With the greatest respect of course if it is a politician or a minister that already happens.
“Whether it is right in relation to civil servants I think is a question for Sue Gray and the Metropolitan Police.”
Speaking to BBC Breakfast later, Raab was keen to stress that the government was “getting on with the job”
“I think he [Boris Johnson] has been clear in relation to things that happened at No 10 Downing Street, mistakes were made and lessons have been learned,” he stated, adding: “ from the interim Sue Gray report to now he[Johnson] has taken a series of actions to overhaul No 10, staff changes and the like.
“We are getting on, whilst we await the final Sue Gray report, he is getting on with the job, the Government is getting on with the job on Ukraine, on the cost of living, on fighting crime.”
The crossbench peer Lord Macdonald, a former director of public prosecutions, has argued that it is “not good enough” that the public are unaware of who was involved in such a “major” scandal.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning he explained: “We don’t know who these people are, and I do feel for the junior civil servants and I quite see why they would be distressed by their names being given, but there’s a wider public interest here.
“This was a major scandal at the heart of government, at the heart of the civil service, and we remain very much in the dark about who was involved, who organised the parties, and who was responsible.
“Of course the prime minister and the head of the civil service are ultimately responsible, but there plainly were other people as well who were involved in this and we simply don’t know who they are, and I think that’s not good enough.”
