Partygate report: Every excuse Boris Johnson made for Downing Street lockdown breaches plus live updates as Sue Gray's report is finally released

Boris Johnson told MPs: “I have been as surprised and disappointed as anyone else in this House as the revelations have unfolded and, frankly, I have been appalled by some of the behaviour, particularly in the treatment of the security and the cleaning staff.

“And I’d like to apologise to those members of staff and I expect anyone who behaved in that way to apologise to them as well.”

Referring to Sue Gray’s report, in which she said there had been “multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff”, Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner tweeted: “Boris Johnson has turned Downing Street into a vomit-stained Bullingdon Club.

“The treatment and mockery doled out to cleaning and security staff that has now been exposed is beyond shameful.

“This Prime Minister has nothing but contempt for the people of this country.”

Boris Johnson said staff were working “extremely long hours” and “doing their best” to help the country in the pandemic, adding to MPs: “I appreciate this is no mitigation but it’s important to set out.”

He added: “I’m trying to set out the context, not to mitigate or to absolve myself in any way.

“The exemption under which they were present in Downing Street includes those circumstances where officials and advisers were leaving the Government and it was appropriate to recognise and to thank them for the work they had done.

“I briefly attended such gatherings to thank them for their service, which I believe is one of the essential duties of leadership and particularly important when people need to feel that their contributions have been appreciated and to keep morale as high as possible.”

As he was heckled, the Prime Minister said: “I’m trying to explain the reasons I was there. It’s clear from what Sue Gray had to say that some of these gatherings then went on far longer than was necessary and they were clearly in breach of the rules and they fell foul of the rules.”

Mr Johnson added: “I had no knowledge of the subsequent proceedings as I simply wasn’t there.”

Making a statement in the House of Commons on the Sue Gray report, Boris Johnson said: “I want to begin today by renewing my apology to the House, to the whole country, for the short lunchtime gathering on June 19, 2020 in the Cabinet Room, during which I stood at my place at the Cabinet table and for which I received a fixed penalty notice.

“I also want to say above all that I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch. Sue Gray’s report has emphasised that it is up to the political leadership in Number 10 to take ultimate responsibility and, of course, I do.”

Boris Johnson told MPs “I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch” as he responded to Sue Gray’s partygate report.

He is making a statement following PMQs

THE long-awaited Sue Gray report into the partygate scandal in Downing Street has finally been revealed.

What were the conclusions? What did Sue Gray say about partygate? What new partygate pictures have been revealed?

Read full story here

Sue Gray said she learned of multiple examples of “unacceptable” treatment of security and cleaning staff during her partygate investigation.

She wrote: “I found that some staff had witnessed or been subjected to behaviours at work which they had felt concerned about but at times felt unable to raise properly.

“I was made aware of multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff. This was unacceptable.”

Boris Johnson is expected to tell the Commons he will “accept full responsibility for my failings” over partygate.

“I commissioned this report to set the record straight and allow us all to move on,” he is expected to tell MPs.

“I accept full responsibility for my failings. I am humbled by the whole experience.”

He will say he has learned the lessons from the situation.

Boris Johnson brought the cheese and wine pictured in a garden gathering on May 15 2020 from his flat, according to the Sue Gray report.

She wrote that the Prime Minister and advisers had a lengthy meeting in his office following a press conference before moving into the garden.

“The Prime Minister brought cheese and wine from his flat. The outdoor part of the meeting lasted for 40 minutes to an hour and they were briefly joined by the Prime Minister’s wife, during which time the photograph was taken. Martin Reynolds subsequently returned to the office to continue working,” she wrote.

“The Prime Minister remained in the garden until around 19.20. There is a further group of four individuals sitting at a table on the terrace. It has not been possible to identify these individuals, but there is no reason to suggest that this was anything other than a further work meeting.”