A report into lockdown-breaching UK government parties says blame for a “culture” of rule breaking in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office must rest with those at the top.

The review, led by senior civil servant Sue Gray and published on Wednesday, said the “senior leadership team … must bear responsibility” for the culture that allowed events to take place that “should not have been allowed to happen”.

Ms. Gray said there had been “failures of leadership and judgement in No 10 [Downing Street]”.

The review investigated 16 gatherings that were held in 2020 and 2021 at Mr. Johnson’s official residence while the UK was under strict lockdown laws that prevented socialization with anyone outside the household.

“Those in the most junior positions attended gatherings at which their seniors were present, or indeed organized,” Ms. Gray said.

A separate police investigation resulted in 83 people getting hit with fines, including Mr. Johnson — making him the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.

The scandal has led to calls for Mr. Johnson to resign. He rebuffed those calls, apologizing but insisting he did not knowingly break the rules.
The British media and opposition politicians have found that hard to square with staff members’ accounts of “bring your own booze” parties and regular “wine-time Fridays” in the Prime Minister’s Downing Street office at the height of the pandemic.

Mr. Johnson had previously stated that no parties were held in Downing Street and no rules were broken, before photographic evidence was unearthed.

Critics, some of them inside Mr. Johnson’s Conservative Party, say the Prime Minister lied to parliament, which is traditionally an offence that leads to the head of government’s resignation.

Ms. Gray’s conclusions could revive calls from his Conservative party for a no-confidence vote in the leader who led it to a big parliamentary majority just over two years ago.

Under party rules, such a vote is triggered if 15 per cent of party politicians — currently 54 people — write letters calling for one.

If Mr. Johnson lost such a vote, he would be replaced as Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

It is unclear how many letters have been submitted so far.

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-25/boris-johnson-blamed-covid-lockdown-parties-sue-gray-report/101100204

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