Sue Gray 'ready to name and shame key Partygate players' and may publish photos of events

20 May 2022, 00:19 | Updated: 20 May 2022, 14:05

Sue Gray is poised to name and shame key players in the Partygate scandal as part of her full, unredacted report - which may include anonymised photos of the events in question.

The senior civil servant is set to publish her report in full next week.

She wants to name key individuals at the events and is in discussion with the civil service's human resources and legal teams about the matter, the Telegraph reports.

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The Times also says her full report could include anonymised photos of the events.

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Sources quoted by the Telegraph have said it would be "difficult" for Ms Gray publish the report without naming specific people or their roles, whilst others have suggested she does not want to look like she is "trying to hide something".

Meanwhile, The Times reports Scotland Yard is withholding the list of who the Met has fined from Ms Gray, something that is frustrating the final publication of her report.

The paper also reports that named individuals will be able to read excerpts from the report - and may be able to challenge the findings, which could delay the publication of the report.

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On Thursday the Met concluded its investigation into a string of alleged lockdown-breaching parties at Downing Street throughout the course of the pandemic.

A total of 126 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) were issued to those found to have broken lockdown rules.

The Prime Minister, who received a fine at an earlier stage of the investigation, was told he faced "no further action" from the force.

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Despite apparent growing confidence in Boris Johnson's leadership, there are still some that believe the publication of Ms Gray's full report could be pivotal for the Prime Minister's premiership.

The fact that he received only one FPN was met with surprise by some.

It is not clear how many of the 12 events the Met investigated led to fines, and Scotland Yard has said it set a high bar for evidence in the investigation.

But the Mirror reports Boris Johnson was explicitly told by the force he would only be investigated for two events.

The paper reports that some of the events that on the surface appear the most serious - such as the "BYOB" garden party and the leaving party for former communications director Lee Cain - were "ignored".

After the Met said it had concluded its investigation - known as Operation Hillman - No 10 said it was "pleased".

On the Sue Gray report, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "Sue Gray will complete her work and then hand that over and then we will publish that as soon as possible.

"That has not happened yet."

It said timings were "a matter for her".

Asked if the intention was to publish the report in the form it is received, he said: "As received, yes."

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A police spokesperson said: "We will not be releasing or confirming the identity of anyone involved in this investigation or providing further details of our findings, in line with the approach we’ve taken throughout the pandemic.

"Our position from early on in the pandemic was that we would not routinely investigate historic breaches of Covid regulations."

The spokesperson went on: "However, we did recognise that there might be some exceptions to this approach, and set out at the time the criteria that would need to be met for us to consider a retrospective investigation."

Acting Deputy Commissioner Helen Ball said "strong feelings and opinions have been expressed" on the Partygate scandal.

But she said the investigation was "impartial" and "completed as quickly as we could".

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The outcome of Operation Hillman was viewed by many as not as severe as it could have been.

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reiterated calls for Mr Johnson to resign.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for the publication of Ms Gray's full report, saying the British public "deserve the full truth".