Sue Gray’s report into Downing Street parties satisfies neither Boris Johnson’s opponents or supporters

Director Will Tanner wrote for iNews about why Sue Gray’s report is the least satisfactory outcome for everyone. He writes:

“Sue Gray’s report is not so much a smoking gun as a sputtering smoke machine. Her heavily abridged findings will leave a lingering cloud of incrimination over 10 Downing Street but make it impossible to point the finger at the culprits – yet. As such, it will satisfy neither Boris Johnson’s opponents nor his advocates, and likely leaves Westminster stuck in the doom loop that has paralysed policymaking for the last few months.

The report, despite its redactions due to the new police investigation, makes uncomfortable reading. It exposes 16 separate “events” in five parts of the Downing Street complex, including No 10, the Downing Street garden, the adjoining Cabinet Office, the Cabinet Secretary’s office and the Prime Minister’s flat. All at times when the public were under Covid restrictions.

This represents, the report notes with understatement, “a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time”. But it does not, and cannot, identify those responsible or give details of their crimes. Sue Gray’s hands have been cuffed by Cressida Dick.”

You can read the full article here.