Speculation rages that top civil servants will be implicated in full Gray partygate report
Top Whitehall staff are reportedly braced for senior civil servants to be implicated in Sue Gray’s full report into partygate, after the government’s ex-ethics chief was handed a police penalty notice last week.
Former head of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office Helen MacNamara was given a £50 fine by the Metropolitan Police, after attending a Whitehall leaving party when the country was under strict Covid rules.
She was one of 20 civil servants to be issued a fixed penalty notice, however she is the only name that has been made public through a media leak.
The Guardian reports that senior civil servants who are handed penalty notices are expecting to be named and shamed by Gray in her full report into the parties scandal.
An initial report into the scandal was published by the senior civil servant in January, however much of what Gray found was not able to be published due to the Met’s ongoing police investigation.
She did not name individuals involved in key events, however it is reportedly thought that it will be different when an updated report comes out at the conclusion of the Met’s criminal investigation.
Tory backbencher Steve Brine told The Guardian: “I would have thought that the best thing is just transparency, open the curtains.”
The Prime Minister was one of 100 people who were asked by the Met to fill in questionnaires as a part of the investigation.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman last week said any staff who were given penalty notices will not be required to disclose this to senior Downing Street management and will not be named publicly.
This is despite the civil service code saying staff must “comply with the law and uphold the administration of justice”.
However, Downing Street has committed to saying if the Prime Minister is found to have broken the law.