On Thursday, the Metropolitan Police Force closed its investigation into alleged Government parties which breached lockdown rules. The force issued a total of 126 fines to those deemed to have broken restrictions, including one to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The announcement has paved the way for one of the Government’s most senior civil servants, Sue Gray, to release her own long-awaited findings.
When will the Sue Gray report be released?
Downing Street has said it will publish the report “as soon as possible”, with officials expecting Ms Gray to most likely hand it over next week.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Sue Gray will complete her work and then hand that over and then we will publish that as soon as possible.
“That has not happened yet. So in effect, timings are a matter for her, still, in terms of when she completes her report.”
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Helen Ball, the Met’s acting deputy commissioner, added the force “have no objections” to the civil servant releasing her report.
Ms Gray had been forced to hold off on a full publication until the Met had concluded its own inquiry dubbed Operation Hillman.
Opposition parties including Labour and the Liberal Democrats have demanded it is published as soon as possible.
An interim version of the report, published in late January, criticised “failures of leadership and judgement” in No 10 and the Cabinet Office.
Around 100 people were invited to the event which the Met confirmed it had issued some fines for.
Mr Johnson has previously apologised for attending the garden party for 25 minutes. He said he had “believed implicitly” it was a work event.
The Met’s investigation examined 510 photographs, as well as CCTV images, emails, logs of entries into buildings, diary entries and witness statements.
Police also looked at 204 questionnaires from people who were at the 12 events investigated by the force.
Overall, 83 people have been issued with fines, with 28 people facing between two and five fines.