London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Deadline passes for officials set to be named by Sue Gray. Boris Johnson probably cleared as a secret deal with Sue

Deadline passes for officials set to be named by Sue Gray. Boris Johnson probably cleared as a secret deal with Sue

Officials expected to be identified in the report on No 10 parties had until Sunday afternoon to object. Boris Johnson and his close friends are expected to be protected following a secret and dubious meeting that took place between Boris Johnson and Sue Gray.

The deadline for Downing Street officials to object to being named in Sue Gray's report on lockdown parties has passed.

The senior civil servant, who has led the investigation, is expected to publish her findings within days.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC Ms Gray had "complete control" over the details revealed.

But Labour insisted the report should be published "in full and with all accompanying evidence".

The officials set to be named as having attended or organised gatherings had until 17:00 BST on Sunday to register their objections.

Whitehall sources had told the BBC that challenges could potentially delay publication of the report.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said that, with no one yet known to have taken out a legal challenge, it was likely that the report would be published in the next few days.

A separate investigation by the Metropolitan Police concluded this week with a total of 126 fines being issued to 83 people, including one to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Ms Gray has gathered evidence including 510 images during her own investigation.

The BBC understands it is unlikely all the images will be released, although it is possible some will be published to illustrate the nature of the gatherings.

Asked on BBC One's Sunday Morning programme whether all the evidence gathered by Ms Gray would be included in her report, Mr Zahawi replied: "I would absolutely welcome it. It's the right thing to do."

He said the prime minister had his "full confidence", telling host Jo Coburn: "Sue Gray makes that decision [over what to include in her report]. Sue Gray has complete control over this."

On Friday it emerged that the prime minister and Ms Gray had met several weeks earlier over the report, although there are conflicting accounts of what was discussed.

Mr Johnson is facing calls to explain the meeting from opposition parties, who say it threatens to undermine public confidence in the investigation.

But Mr Zahawi said: "The prime minister would never interfere in the outcome of the investigation."

"The prime minister, throughout the process, has allowed Sue Gray to conduct herself independently," he added.

Downing Street said Mr Johnson had been "clear throughout" that the report should be "completely independent", and its findings had not been discussed.


There hasn't been a renewed clamour among Conservative MPs for the prime minister to go, now that police have confirmed the scale of the fines imposed on officials and politicians in Downing Street.

But Boris Johnson's long-standing critics will pore over the Sue Gray report to assess whether his initial assertion that Covid guidance and rules were followed was credible.

The devil for Mr Johnson will be in the as-yet-unseen detail of the Downing Street gatherings. If, for example, she were to provide descriptions - or even possibly, in some cases, images - of events that weren't socially distanced, that could potentially inflict more damage on the prime minister.

But if Mr Johnson, in the statement he will make to MPs when the report becomes public, can convince colleagues he was the victim of bad advice from his officials, then his next challenge will come in June.

That's when voters will get a chance to have their say in two crucial by-elections in Conservative held seats.

For Labour, shadow Treasury minister Pat McFadden told Sky News: "I've got every faith in Sue Gray's integrity and she is a civil servant of the highest integrity.

"We don't know the details of that meeting, it's not clear who called it, there's different accounts of that, so it's hard for me to say what was said there."

An interim version of Ms Gray's report, published in January, did not name individuals but criticised "failures of leadership and judgement" and said some events should not have "been allowed to take place".

The publication of her full findings was delayed when the Met Police launched its own investigation.

The prime minister faces a further inquiry by the Commons' Privileges Committee about whether he knowingly lied to Parliament when he previously told MPs that no laws had been broken in Downing Street.

Under government guidelines, ministers who knowingly mislead the House of Commons are expected to resign.


Watch: Zahawi in heated exchange over who set up Sue Gray meeting


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×