There have been “mistakes of leadership” and lessons must be “learned”. A long-awaited administrative report into the Downing Street holiday scandal during the lockdown sharply called British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to order on Monday.
The 57-year-old Conservative leader, also targeted by a police investigation for these events, said he was “sorry” in front of the deputies. “I’m sorry for the things we just didn’t do right, and also sorry for the way the subject was handled,” he said.
“I understand, and I will fix it,” added the Prime Minister, promising administrative changes in the management of Downing Street. However, he ruled out resigning.
The publication of this report, written by senior civil servant Sue Gray, on the farewell parties, garden parties and Christmas or birthday parties organized in 2020 and 2021 at the residence of the Prime Minister, shakes Boris Johnson, whose popularity has already suffered from the scandal.
“There have been failures of leadership and judgment from different parts of Downing Street and the Cabinet Office at different times,” Sue Gray said in the report, which was delivered to the Prime Minister in the morning and published in the early afternoon.
At a time when the British were forced to drastically limit their social interactions in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, “some of the behaviors linked to these gatherings are difficult to justify”, she pointed out.
In particular, she denounces “excessive alcohol consumption” which “is not appropriate in a professional setting” and points out that the garden of the Prime Minister’s residence has been used for “gatherings without clear authorization or supervision”, which “was not appropriate”.
“Lesson to be Learned”
Sue Gray concludes that “a number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or proceed as they did. There is an important lesson to be learned from these events, which must be addressed immediately across government,” she adds, stressing that “it does not need to wait for the findings of the investigation of police “.
Sur Gray looked at 16 events, 12 of which are under investigation by police, including a rally in the Downing Street flat and another on Boris Johnson’s birthday in June 2020.
Due to the ongoing police investigation, the senior official explained that she can only make “minimal reference” to the gatherings investigated by police in her 12-page report.
British police provoked outrage on Friday by asking that this internal report be redacted from key elements so as not to harm their own investigations into several of these parties, potentially the most damaging to Boris Johnson.
The opposition parties and some members of his conservative camp are calling for his departure.
The revelation of these parties shocked the British, who were then subject to strict confinements, and plunged Boris Johnson into a serious crisis threatening his retention in his post. Many members of his camp were waiting for the publication of Sue Gray’s report to decide whether or not to try to oust him through a vote of no confidence.
Saying he understood the anger of the public, Boris Johnson had apologized for his “poor judgements”, but he defended himself for having broken the rules, claiming in particular to have thought that a party he had briefly visited in May 2020 was a “work event”.
“We will have to wait and see the results of the investigations, but of course I absolutely stand by what I have said in the past,” he said on Monday, interviewed on television on the sidelines of a visit to the city. south east of England.
To erase the scandals, the Prime Minister launched a counter-offensive, announcing on Monday a “Brexit freedoms” bill which aims to facilitate the process already underway to modify or abandon and replace the laws inherited from the European Union. .