Was Sue Gray's Partygate probe report tampered with to save some civil service staff?

The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced fresh calls of resignation after senior civil servant Sue Gray released her report on the numerous parties in Downing Street. The report revealed that Johnson had participated in the gatherings, that were banned (or limited) across the country during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown. The Partygate scandal has caused trouble for the Johnson government for enjoying wine and cheese parties when people in the country were suffering due to Covid. Behaviour at the heart of government is under intense scrutiny. Now, in the latest development, local media outlets have reported that some changes were believed to be made to the details of the report.

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In a report on May 29 by Sunday Times, it was claimed that three senior civil servants lobbied Sue Gray not to publish some names of those attending lockdown parties.

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Permanent secretary Samantha Jones, Simon Case, the cabinet secretary and Alex Chisholm, the permanent secretary in the Cabinet Office were named by the paper.

Apart from the removal of names, media reports also stated that an alleged "Abba party" in the No10 flat was removed from the report. A claim that has been denied by No10 that the report was "changed by No10" in its final stages.

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However, it has been understood that Downing Street admitted that an official saw parts of the report before publication. As quoted by media reports, a No10 source said: "It is untrue any- one on the political side saw anything in advance or sought to influence it."

The report has claimed that a draft of the report had "referred to music being played from Boris and Carrie Johnson's Downing Street flat on November 13, 2020". Some of the crucial details have been said to be missing in the final report, which was apparently there in the draft.

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After the probe, Johnson only received a single fine despite attending more than one of the events. London's Metropolitan police also highlighted that it had issued more than 100 fines to dozens of civil servants and politicians.

"We have not shied away from issuing a fixed penalty notice where we thought it was deserved," Acting Commissioner Stephen House told a London Assembly oversight committee, insisting Johnson had not been shown any leniency.

"I'm not particularly concerned about what the prime minister thinks. I do my job without fear or favour, as did the Met in this situation," House added.

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