The most damning lines of the Sue Gray report - from vomiting to karaoke

A culture of boozing, fighting, vomiting and even karaoke are just a few of the insights the finally published Gray report gives into the inner workings of Downing Street.

There is even a mention of multiple incidents of staff showing a "lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff". 

The National has taken a deep dive into the 37-page document to give you an overview of the most shocking revelations.

READ MORE: Most damning pictures include Boris Johnson boozing in Downing Street

The Number 10 garden party

I guess staff meetings look a bit different if you went to Eton?

Enough is enough. Tell us the truth about what was going on in Downing Street from the very beginning immediately @BorisJohnson https://t.co/Ovrs9Z5Zxh

— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) December 19, 2021

On May 15 2020, Gray reports that a number of people gathered in the Number 10 garden, shown in the now infamous photograph published by the Guardian, which showed Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie, Dominic Cummings and a number of officials scattered outside of the government office.

Gray states that interviewees said this was a number of separate meetings by other groups. However, the PM who has repeatedly denied involvement in this, “brought cheese and wine from his flat”, the report adds.

The BYOB party

Martin Reynolds, left, with the Prime Minister

On May 20 2020, Downing Street staff had another event to “boost staff morale following a challenging period for staff”. Some officials declined the invitation and raised concerns, but Martin Reynolds, then principal private secretary to the PM who sent the email telling staffers to “Bring your own booze”, was warned to be “courteous with sound” between 4pm and 6pm as there was a press conference ongoing in Downing Street.

The report said that one No 10 staffer told Reynolds: “Just to flag that the press conference will probably be finishing around that time, so helpful if people can be mindful of that as speakers and cameras are leaving, not walking around waving bottles of wine etc.” Reynolds replied “Will do my best!….”

Lee Cain, then Number 10 Director of Communications, was also invited, and the report notes he described 200 people partying in the Downing St garden as “somewhat of a comms risk in the current environment”. In an exchange after the event, Reynolds told a staffer: “A complete non-story but better than them focusing on our drinks (which we seem to have got away with).”

READ MORE: Sue Gray report: Partygate probe into Boris Johnson published

A Cabinet leaving party

Lee Cain told another No 10 staffer that a party would be a 'rather substantial comms risk'

On June 18 2020, the first partygate event gathering where attendees were fined, staff held a leaving party for Hannah Young, who left Downing Street to become the UK’s deputy consul general in New York.

Gray’s report reveals a WhatsApp conversation between Reynolds and Cain, with Cain saying he is “not sure it works” to have a large scale gathering in the garden, and putting the decision in Reynolds hands, again noting the “rather substantial comms risk”.

However, the event went ahead, first with speeches and drinks in the Cabinet Room, with guests including Cummings and Simon Case the Cabinet Secretary. After the first part of the event, staff moved through an adjoining door into 70 Whitehall at around 7.40pm, and the group ordered pizza and drank prosecco. Helen MacNamara, deputy cabinet secretary, attended for part of the evening and provided a karaoke machine.

But the most damning part comes in Gray’s conclusion where she writes: “The event lasted for a number of hours. There was excessive alcohol consumption by some individuals. One individual was sick. There was a minor altercation between two other individuals.” The last member of staff, who stayed to tidy up, left at 3.13am.

The Prime Minister’s birthday party

Johnson and Sunak pictures at the PM's surprise birthday party in the cabinet room

Both Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined as a result of the event on June 19 2020. Gray notes that the event was pre-planned and that food, alcohol and soft-drinks were organised. Reynolds emailed Case and Number 10 private secretaries encouraging them to “come along and wish the PM happy birthday”. Gray adds that the PM was not aware of the party in advance, and neither was Sunak.

The ABBA party

One of the events took place in the Downing Street flat where the Johnson's reside

After the announcement of the departure of Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings on 13 November 2020, the report states that a meeting was held in the Number 10 flat to “discuss the handling of their departure”, which five special advisers attended, with the PM joining at 8pm. The report notes that food and alcohol were available, but that’s all there is - as Gray was “limited” in her information gathering by the Met investigation and Gray decided against investigation further.

READ MORE: Sue Gray report sparks call for Douglas Ross to demand PM's resignation

The Christmas quiz

Johnson outside of Downing Street turning on Christmas lights

Although officials seem to be aware of restrictions in emails ahead of the festive event on December 15 2020, and warned staff not to come into the Downing Street office if they were not working from there that day already. The virtual Christmas quiz took place across numerous offices and with some staff joining from home, the PM reportedly took part for 12 minutes, but it didn’t take long for the boozing to get out of control.

The report said: “A No 10 official sent a message on internal No 10 systems referring to drunkenness and advising staff to leave No 10 via the back exit. The No 10 official informed the investigation team that they did this in order to avoid staff being photographed by the press outside.”

Christmas break Friday

Johnson pictured outside of Downing Street during the festive period

On the last working Friday of 2020 (December 18), the Downing Street press office held a rowdy party that included games and an awards ceremony. While some press officers were dealing with queries around the emerging Delta variant and negotiations with the EU ahead of Brexit on December 31, between 15 and 45 people took part in a series of festive activities.

Gray’s report says some staff “drank excessively, that the event was “crowded and noisy” and staff elsewhere in the building heard “significant levels of noise” coming from what they described as a party. A panic alarm was triggered accidentally by a member of staff around 7.45pm, with a custodian staff member and a police officer attending. The document notes that they "observed a large number of people" outside of the Press Office while someone gave a speech. 

The report adds: “A cleaner who attended the room the next morning noted that there had been red wine spilled on one wall and on a number of boxes of photocopier paper.”

James Slack’s leaving do

Slack is the PM's former Director of Communications

Two separate events for former director of communications Slack and another Number 10 official took place on April 16 2021, the night before Prince Philip's funeral. The drinking at Slack’s do went on so long that staff were asked to leave by a Number 10 custodian, and moved into the Downing Street garden.

At the other leaving do, which was smaller, Gray notes that “a number of those present drank excessively”. The two groups mingled together, and around 9.30pm around 20 people were present in the garden.

At some point, a children’s slide was broken after drunk staff “damaged it by leaning on and playing with it”. Staff were encouraged to leave out the back exit, with some leaving as late as 3.11am, and the last at 4.20am. 

READ MORE: Dominic Raab offers fed-up sideways glance to colleagues during Boris Johnson statement

The conclusion

Gray's report was originally delayed by the Met police investigation

Gray’s findings don’t pull any punches. The civil servant says explicitly that these events were “not in line with Covid guidance at the time”, even allowing for the “extraordinary pressure” staff in Number 10 were under.

And Gray puts the blame squarely with Johnson and other government leaders, adding that the events “should not have been allowed to happen” and that junior civil servants believed events were permitted because senior leaders signed off on the behaviour.

There is also a note that staff told Gray that there were multiple examples of a “lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff”, which she adds was “unnacceptable”.