LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received the long-awaited report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into lockdown-busting parties at Downing Street.
The details have not been published yet but Johnson will go to the House of Commons later to make a statement on the findings, which have been released in full following the closure of a police investigation.
Gray, one of the most experienced officials in the British government, said in an interim report that Johnson’s administration showed “a serious failure” to observe standards expected in government.
Johnson was fined for his attendance at a party in Downing Street in June 2020 when most indoor mixing was banned under COVID laws.
A total of 126 fines were handed out over rule-breaking gatherings at No. 10 and Whitehall during the pandemic, with Johnson’s wife Carrie, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and former civil service ethics chief Helen MacNamara among those sanctioned.
Most penalties were handed to civil servants and government officials who have not been named.
A new photo showing Johnson drinking at a gathering in November 2020 was published by ITV News this week, ratcheting up pressure on his position again despite surviving many twists and turns of the Partygate scandal.
The prime minister is expected to address his own MPs Wednesday afternoon in a bid to rally the troops as fresh questions over his leadership pile up.
