By Sue Gray’s ‘Partygate’ interviews may not be made public
The Government have refused to confirm whether interviews by Sue Gray in the investigation into Downing Street parties will be recorded or made public.
The senior civil servant’s inquiry into the Downing Street parties throughout the pandemic is becoming more important each day as Boris Johnson has urged rivals and opposition to wait for it before calling for his resignation.
However, there have been fears of a ‘whitewash’ of the report as the PM may have considerable influence over its findings.
These fears have been accentuated as openDemocracy have revealed that the government have refused to say whether the interviews in the inquiry will be recorded or made public.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that former chief adviser Dominic Cummings will be interviewed in the inquiry, after he posted an incendiary updated blog post alleging that Johnson was warned about the parties – something he has denied.
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, the PM said: “I’m saying categorically that nobody told me, nobody said this was something that was against the rules, doing something that wasn’t a work event because frankly, I can’t imagine why it would have gone ahead, or it would have been allowed to go ahead if it was against the rules.”
During PMQ’s, when confronted by leaders of the opposition and members of his own party with calls to resign, the PM urged them to wait for the report to be published – with reports saying that will be next week.
The report will focus on a ‘bring your own booze’ event in the No 10 garden in May 2020 – something Boris Johnson admitted attending for 25 minutes, but he says he thought it was a work event.
Other Tory ministers have also urged people to wait for the report’s findings, health secretary Sajid Javid told GMB: “I support our Prime Minister and I support his call to give the time and space for this investigation to be done.
“When it is done, and the facts are established, he will come to Parliament and will take full responsibility and subject himself to scrutiny by all MPs in all parties,” he continued.
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