UK politics live: No 10 has received the Sue Gray ‘partygate’ report, the Cabinet Office says

In his pooled interview in Essex, Boris Johnson brushed aside suggestions that the version of the Sue Gray report being published this week, with the most incriminating material removed at the request of the Met police (who believe its publication would compromise their own investigation), would be a “whitewash”. When this was put to him, he replied:

You are going to have to wait and see both what Sue says and of course what the Met says.

And here is a full summary of the main lines from Downing Street lobby briefing.

• The PM’s spokesman said the report from Sue Gray received by No 10 today would be published before Boris Johnson’s statement to MPs at 3.30pm, in the form it was submitted this morning.

• The spokesman refused to say that a full report, including the most incriminating material being omitted today at the request of the police, would be published in future. Asked about this, he said:

Obviously we will need to consider what might be appropriate and we are discussing with the Cabinet Office team in due course about what might be appropriate, but at the moment it is unclear how the ongoing Met police investigation might interact with any further work on that. But obviously it’s something we will want to keep under review.

Asked again if the public would ever see a fuller version of the Gray report, the spokesman said: “That’s one of the things I can’t confirm at this point simply because we need to discuss that with the Met and others about what is suitable.”

• The spokesman refused to confirm that, if Johnson received a fixed penalty notice (a fine) for breaking lockdown rules, he would make that public. Asked if he would, the spokesman said that was a hypothetical question.

• The spokesman said that Johnson spoke to Gray about her report yesterday. He said:

My understanding is they spoke briefly yesterday. I think they briefly discussed the findings. I don’t know exactly what they discussed.

• The spokesman refused to comment on a report in the Sunday Times yesterday saying Johnson had been told not to take intelligence papers into his flat after an aide saw them left lying around there where any visitor could read them. The spokessman said he would not comment on security arrangements. But he claimed the PM followed the necessary rules and guidance relating to such material.

• Johnson will speak to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, this afternoon, the spokesman said.

• Johnson will visit Ukraine tomorrow for a meeting with the president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the spokesman said. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, will travel with him.

© Provided by The Guardian
Broadcasters in Downing Street today. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says Downing Street’s failure to commit to publishing the full Sue Gray report once the police inquiry is over (see 12.38pm and 12.58pm) is “disgraceful”. He said:

The fact that Number 10 is backpedaling on ever releasing the whole Sue Gray report is as disgraceful as it is predictable. This whole shambolic and dishonest government must be brought down.

Boris Johnson must confirm that the full report will be published as soon as possible. Every day it is delayed prolongs the pain for the millions across the country who just want answers and for justice to be done.

Downing Street has confirmed that it will published the Sue Gray report – or at least the vanilla version out today (see 11.22am) – before Boris Johnson delivers his statement to MPs at 3.30pm.

It will be published on the government’s website.

We have not got an exact timing. Sometimes a document like this might appear an hour or so before the Commons statement, but more often than not it drops much closer to the start of the ministerial speech in the chamber.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to say whether, once the police inquiry is over, the full Sue Gray report, including all the most incriminating material being withheld at the Met’s request from the document being published today, would be released.

These are from my colleague Peter Walker.

From Times Radio’s Tom Newton Dunn

In its press release on the “Brexit freedoms” bill, Downing Street cites the vaccine rollout as one of the benefits of Brexit. Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, made the same claim during his morning interview round, telling LBC: “The biggest single benefit [from Brexit] came in the form of the vaccine programme … in terms of both procuring vaccines and getting them safely licensed.”

The claim that vaccine approval was quicker in the UK because of Brexit is not true (see here or here, for example). It is arguable that a pro-European government might have been more willing to participate in the EU’s vaccine procurement programme than Boris Johnson’s, but that is supposition, not fact. Some EU countries made their own vaccine procurement arrangements, and even when it was in the EU, the UK frequently acted unilaterally when it could (as it could on this issue).

As Adam Bienkov from Byline Times reports, Clarke came out with another erroneous claim in a separate interview.

There will be two other statements in the Commons after Boris Johnson’s, according to the parliamentary authorities. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, will make a statement on Russian sanctions, and that will be followed by a statement from Sajid Javid, the health secretary, on the compulsory vaccine requirement for NHS workers. (See 9.42am.)

The Commons authorities have announced that Boris Johnson will make a statement to MPs at 3.30pm on the Sue Gray report.

This is from Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, with the latest on her talks with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, on the Northern Ireland protocol. Neither side has given much away on how the talks are going, but even the reference to a “good call” marks an improvement from the days when Lord Frost was negotiating for the UK, and relations were (in all respects) frostier.

Boris Johnson is in Essex this morning in a George Osborne outfit (the former chancellor specialised in photocalls featuring hard hats and hi-vis jackets – his lasting contribution to British political imagery). For Johnson, it makes a change from being in a hospital.

The PM has also recorded a broadcast interview. We are expecting to hear it shortly.

© Provided by The Guardian
Boris Johnson visiting Tilbury docks in Essex this morning. Photograph: Reuters

From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges

And here are two more lines from Boris Johnson’s pooled interview this morning at Tilbury.

• Johnson confirmed that Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is preparing a package of measures to help people cope with the rising cost of energy. He said:

We all understand the pressures that the cost-of-living crunch is putting on people and it is being driven by the inflation you are seeing around the world, particularly in energy costs. So, we’re going to be bringing forward … I know the chancellor is looking at a package of things to abate energy costs.

There are things we can do differently and we think in a way that will encourage business to invest even more,” he told broadcasters during a visit to Tilbury docks.

In all the areas where the UK is strong – cyber, artificial intelligence, all the cutting-edge technologies of the future – we are going to make sure we do things differently and better, where appropriate.

We won’t diverge for the sake of it but we are going to make sure this is the number one place to do business and invest because of the freedoms that we have.

Obviously, any investment boost would have to be extraordinary to come even close to compensating for the 4% reduction in GDP that the UK is expected to suffer in the long term as a result of Brexit, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

No 10 has now received the Sue Gray report, the Cabinet Office says.

Or at least a version of it. Here is the statement from a Cabinet Office spokesperson:

We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the prime minister.

The description of the report as an “update” implies that Gray definitely does not see it as the finished version (she has had to leave out the most incriminating material at the request of the police), and perhaps that she does envisage publishing a final version once the police inquiry is over.

The use of the word “update” rather than report may also imply that the document coming today is even more minimal than anticipated.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

In his interview Boris Johnson also refused to deny reports that in private he believes he has done nothing wrong in relation to parties at No 10. Asked repeatedly by the BBC’s Nick Eardley if he thought he had done nothing wrong, Johnson said that people would have to wait for the results of the investigations, but that he stood by what he had said in the past. “Of course I stick absolutely to what I’ve said in the past,” he said.

There have been many reports saying that, when speaking to Conservative MPs in private about partygate in recent week, Johnson has been telling them that he believes he personally did nothing wrong. This is how Tim Shipman reported it in his Sunday Times write-through (pawall) yesterday.

Johnson saw between 10 and 15 MPs on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. He argued robustly that Partygate was a “witch-hunt” got up by Labour and the media, that he did nothing wrong and will bounce back. While he apologises that aides were out of control, a friend said, “he genuinely believes that when it all comes out when all facts are in the public domain that a fair-minded person will see that he was sincere when he said he followed the rules in No 10”.

Johnson’s line this morning that he stands by what he has said in the past is not especially helpful because he has given various different responses at various different times over recent weeks. He has told MPs in the Commons at first that rules were followed at all times, and later that he was assured that rules were followed at all times. In his latest formal apology to MPs, on 12 January, he said “there were things we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility. A week later, in his interview with Beth Rigby, he sounded more contrite, talking about his own misjudgments. Subsequently he has sounded more bullish.

But he has never admitted that he personally broke Covid regulations in force at the time, and if the police were to write to him, on the basis of the evidence compiled by Sue Gray, inviting him to pay a fine for breaching lockdown, it is not obvious that he would accept this. It is possible he could choose to fight the accusation in court.

Boris Johnson is due to speak to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, this week. In his pooled TV interview, he said he would use the call to tell Putin that invading Ukraine would be a “disaster” for Russia. He said:

What I will say to the president, as I’ve said before, is that I think we really all need to step back from the brink and I think Russia needs to step back from the brink.

I think that an invasion of Ukraine, any incursion into Ukraine beyond the territory that Russia has already taken in 2014 would be an absolute disaster for the world, but above all it would be a disaster for Russia.

The Ukrainians would fight to protect their sovereignty, Johnson said.

Here are more tweets from journalists who have been briefed that the Sue Gray report will almost certainly be handed over to No 10 today.

From Sky’s Beth Rigby

From the Times’ Steven Swinford

Some Conservative commentators (like Allister Heath in the Telegraph last week) and MPs have suggested that, as part of his promised shake-up of No 10 following the publication of the Sue Gray report, Boris Johnson should make David Frost, his former Brexit minister, chief of staff. This argument appeals to those who believe that what Downing Street needs is not so much a dose of administrative efficiency but an ideological shift to a low-tax, less interventionist agenda.

This morning Frost says he could not take the job (which has not been offered to him, and was never likely to be, according to some reports) because of his opposition to the national insurance contributions (NICs) increase, which Johnson confirmed at the weekend will definitely go ahead.

In his interview in Essex Boris Johnson said Sajid Javid, the health secretary, will make a statement on vaccination policy for NHS workers later. Johnson said he believed health workers should get vaccinated, but he would not confirm that the government would continue to make this compulsory for them.

Asked about the reports of a U-turn, he said:

My view on NHS workers, everybody involved in looking after vulnerable people, all healthcare professionals should get a vaccine. That’s absolutely clear.

I think that Sajid Javid, the health secretary, is saying a bit more later on about how you might deal with different variants of coronavirus because they have different implications when it comes to transmission.

These are from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Good morning. The most moving feature on the BBC’s Today programme this morning was Rory Cellan-Jones talking about the death of his much-loved dog, Cabbage. But the main news agenda today is dominated by another tale of canine mortality, and it appears that the No 10 “Big Dog”, after two weeks in fear of being put down by his own party, has staged a comeback. Yesterday in the Sunday Times (paywall) Tim Shipman said that Johnson’s team are now “confident” that he is not facing an imminent no-confidence vote (unless there is some surprise development), and this morning it is hard to find anyone saying that Shipman, or his sources, are wrong.

Two weeks ago we saw No 10 embark on an “Operation Red Meat” strategy that flopped. Priti Patel, the home secretary, announced that the military would take charge of Channel crossings, only to annoy the Tory rightwingers who were supposed to be impressed and who felt it was a pointless stunt. And Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, announced the end of the BBC licence fee – before having to retreat somewhat 24 hours later.

This week we have another raft of “Red Meat” initiatives that seem to contain a bit more substance. A Brexit freedoms bill has been announced today, the levelling up white paper is expected on Wednesday, and Johnson is expected to visit Ukraine. My colleague Jessica Elgot has a summary here.

Related: Boris Johnson to try to regain control with Brexit bill and policy blitz

Of course, “Operation Red Meat” was all about protecting Johnson from the fallout from Sue Gray’s report into partygate. The intervention of the Met police on Friday means that when the report does appear, all the most incriminating passages will be removed or redacted. But it is still a potentially difficult moment for Johnson, and it may very well come today (although, given reporters have been saying that since last Wednesday, you will be forgiven for concluding it might just be best to wait).

As we do wait, in another “Red Meat” concession, ministers are also reportedly on the verge of dropping the requirement for frontline NHS staff to be fully vaccinated. In December 62 Conservative MPs voted against this plan, and in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) Gabriella Swirling and Ben Riley-Smith report: “Multiple government sources said ministers are expected to end the requirement because the Omicron Covid variant, now dominant in the UK, is milder than previous strains.”

Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, was doing the morning interview round this morning. Without formally making an announcement, he come close to confirming the U-turn. He said the original policy was drawn up when Delta was the dominant variant, but that a rethink was justified because people are now catching the Omicron variant, which is “more transmissible but less dangerous”. Speaking to LBC, he said: “Obviously we will reflect that new reality in any decision that’s made, and that’s the right thing.”

The Royal College of Nursing has welcomed the expected move. In a statement, Patricia Marquis, its England director, said:

If these reports are correct, this climbdown by government is long overdue. Vaccination is hugely important but this was the wrong policy, especially as it added to the current pressure on NHS and care services.

My colleague Peter Walker has more on this story here.

Related: No 10 set for U-turn over mandatory Covid jabs for NHS staff in England

Here is the agenda for the day.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Morning: Boris Johnson is doing a visit, where he is expected to record a pooled TV interview.

12pm: Mourners attend Jack Dromey’s funeral.

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