The report prepared by the senior official Sue Gray about the parties held at the seat of government during the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic – which amount to a total of 16 – ensures that there were “failures of leadership and judgment” in Downing Street and adds that “some of these events should not have been allowed to take place”.
Twelve of those events are the subject of a formal police investigation, so Gray was forced to leave out any details about them and could only make minimal reference to these events. “Unfortunately”, for her, it has been “extremely limited” in the data that it can bring to light, which means that “it is not possible to provide a meaningful report that analyzes the amount of factual information that I have managed to collect”.
All in all, the report is emphatic in stating that “there are important lessons to be learned from these events that must be dealt with immediately in the Government and that does not require the end of the police investigations”.
“In the context of the pandemic, when the government asked citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behaviors around these social gatherings are hard to justify“, Gray notes in the document.
It also adds that “some of these meetings represent a serious failure to observe, not only the standards expected of those who work in the core of the Government, but also those that were expected of the entire population at the time.”
For the researcher, “there were failures of leadership and judgment by different parties at Number 10 (Downing Street, home of the prime minister’s official residence and office) and at the Cabinet Ministry at various times. It should not have been allowed that some of those events took place. And others shouldn’t have been allowed to unfold the way they did.”
Johnson’s involvement
Among the alleged parties being investigated by police are an event in Downing Street Garden attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson (May 20, 2020); a meeting in the cabinet room on the occasion of Johnson’s birthday (June 19, 2020), as well as a social gathering at the residence of number 10 Downing Street (November 13, 2020).
“Apologizing is not enough”
Johnson announces changes in the internal functioning of the Executive
After hearing the report on the parties, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced before Parliament that undertake changes in the internal functioning of the Government, because “apologizing is not enough”.
Johnson has claimed that the main thing now is to “learn” from the mistakes made with the celebration of the holidays, and has said thatwill mend the problems of structures and accountability that made possible those “leadership failures” that Gray’s report criticizes.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
