Boris Johnson Promises to Publish Full ‘Partygate’ Report

(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson said he'll publish the full civil service investigation into allegations of rule-breaking parties on Downing Street during Covid-19 lockdowns over the past two years, as his office also vowed to divulge details of any future fines potentially levied on the U.K. prime minister over his involvement.

The senior civil servant in charge of the internal probe, Sue Gray, issued an “update” on her investigation on Monday, slamming “failures of leadership and judgment” at the top of Johnson's government and criticizing “excessive” drinking. But because London's Metropolitan Police are also probing 12 of the 16 gatherings in question, she was unable to publish her full report. Her team has provided the police with 500 pages of information and more than 300 images.

The prime minister in the House of Commons on Monday batted away numerous attempts by Members of Parliament to get him to confirm he'd release the full civil service report when able. But on Tuesday, he was asked whether he would publish it, including any pictures Gray submits.

“Yes, of course, we'll publish everything that we can as soon as the process has been completed,” Johnson told journalists in Kyiv, where he gave a press conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The steady flow of allegations of rule-breaking gatherings, dubbed “Partygate” by the U.K. media, has damaged Johnson's standing within his own Conservative Party, with several of his lawmakers calling for him to go. The Police probe and Gray's eventual, fuller report both provide moments of danger for the prime minister, with many Tories saying they'll reserve judgment on his leadership until they have those conclusions.

It would take 54 Tory MPs, or 15% of the total, to submit letters calling for Johnson's resignation to trigger an automatic no-confidence vote in his leadership. So far, just a handful have said they've done so, and their numbers grew by at least one on Tuesday when the rank-and-file MP Peter Aldous tweeted that he'd written a letter.

Johnson's spokesman, Max Blain, earlier promised more transparency when asked if 10 Downing Street would release any details of any fines levied by the police on Johnson over potential transgressions against the coronavirus rules. While recipients of such fines wouldn't normally be publicized, Blain said the government “is aware of the significant public interest” and “hypothetically” would tell the media if Johnson were fined.