DOMINIC Raab has said Boris Johnson will decide how much of the Sue Gray inquiry into the partygate scandal will be published.
During an interview on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, the Deputy Prime Minister refused to confirm whether the report would be published in full.
It comes amid fears the inquiry into whether Downing Street held parties during the height of the Covid lockdown will be a “Whitehall whitewash”.
Among the events Gray has been investigating is a “bring your own booze” do in the Downing Street garden in May 2020 during the first lockdown. Johnson has admitted he was there but said he thought it was a “work event” – an explanation that was met with widespread derision.
She has also been looking at two staff leaving dos on April 16 last year on the eve of the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh, which have already seen No 10 apologise to Buckingham Palace.
Over the weekend The Sunday Times reported that Gray’s inquiry had been widened to cover claims of parties in Johnson’s Downing Street flat which he shares with his wife, Carrie, and their two children.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported Gray has been taking detailed testimony from police guarding Downing Street helping her to build a detailed picture of the comings and goings during lockdown.
Raab said: “The reality is Sue Gray will report on the issues around Number 10.
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“We take them very seriously. I understand the frustration people feel but it is right they are investigated by Sue Gray properly and there is that due process and transparency.”
Raab then pivoted to the vaccine rollout and the economy, to which journalist Sophie Raworth’s said “we know that - you’ve told us repeatedly”.
Asked if the Tories are preparing for a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister, Raab said: “I can tell you this week with everything that’s gone on, I was at Prime Minister’s Questions, particularly with what Christian Wakeford, there was a rallying support for the Prime Minister. You could feel it in the chamber.”
Raab again went on to speak about the economy and the success of the vaccine rollout, saying both were thanks to Johnson.
Asked if the Gray report would be published in full, Raab said: “The process for it will be for the Prime Minister to decide.”
The inquiry into lockdown parties at Downing Street could see Boris Johnson resign
Raworth intervened: “It needs to be published in full, doesn’t it, for people to see what the actual facts were?”
Raab replied: “I think the substance of the findings, there will be full transparency, and indeed he has said he will come back to the House of Commons and make a statement so there will be full scrutiny.”
Asked again about how much of the report would be public, he added: “I’m not quite sure the shape and the form it will come, but the Prime Minister has been clear there will be full transparency around this, so that people can see and we would welcome that transparency.”
“We need to learn lessons, the Prime Minister has already said that.”
Asked if Johnson should resign if he misled parliament, Raab agreed that misleading parliament is a resigning matter under the Ministerial Code of Conduct.
The SNP have previously called for an independent, judge-led inquiry into the allegations of numerous Downing Street parties during lockdown.
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Green MP Caroline Lucas tweeted: “Did @DominicRaab really say it’s the *PM* who will decide how much of the Sue Gray report will be published?!
Did @DominicRaab really say it’s the *PM* who will decide how much of the Sue Gray report will be published?! That would be utterly unacceptable. There can only be justice on this if *all* the evidence is put in the public domain - not just the bits the PM chooses #SundayMorning
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) January 23, 2022
“That would be utterly unacceptable. There can only be justice on this if *all* the evidence is put in the public domain - not just the bits the PM chooses.”
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Gray report must be published “in its entirety with all accompanying evidence”.
She said: “Boris Johnson cannot be allowed to cover-up or obscure any of the truth when he has insisted on a hugely protracted internal probe to tell him which parties he attended and what happened in his own home.”
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