Tory MPS largely silent over damning ‘Partygate’ report
INVESTIGATION CRITICISED THE WORKING CULTURE AT NO 10
THREE OF East Yorkshire’s Conservative MPS have stayed silent following Sue Gray’s report on Downing Street lockdown parties months after one dismissed the claims as insulting.
Greg Knight, Graham Stuart and Andrew Percy did not say whether they still have confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak after Hull Live requested a comment. But a video from January has been shared online of Mr Stuart saying it was insulting to liken Downing Street staff’s behaviour at gatherings held during lockdown to frat parties.
After the report was published on Wednesday, Haltemprice and Howden MP David Davis told BBC Look North he “hasn’t changed his mind” four months after urging Boris Johnson to stand down over the damning allegations.
Back in January, Mr Davis stood in the Commons and echoed a speech made by a former MP to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain saying, “you sat there too long for all the good you have done – in the name of God, go”.
However, Mr Davis refused to confirm to Peter Levery whether he had made a formal declaration of no confidence.
Revelations from Ms Gray’s report included a child’s swing in 10 Downing Street’s garden being damaged by partygoers at one event which featured a number of bottles of alcohol.
The April 2021 event saw a group more than 20 people in Downing Street’s garden at a time when social gatherings were outlawed, with one leaving at 4.20am. Gatherings in Number 10’s garden in May 2020 and in the Cabinet room for Mr Johnson’s birthday the following June, both also featuring alcohol, were also referenced in the findings.
Conservative Beverley and Holderness MP Mr Stuart defended Mr Johnson and Downing Street staff on at least two occasions in January when revelations about the gatherings were still emerging.
The MP told BBC’S Politics North the Prime Minister and his staff worked phenomenally hard but added disciplinary measures would be taken if necessary once inquiries concluded.
He said: “This stuff we’re trying to make out like 10 Downing Street, the heart of our government, full of extraordinarily dedicated and hardworking people, that those people are actually behaving in the middle of the pandemic like it was some sort of frat party is just downright insulting.”
In the same month Mr Stuart gave a speech in the House of Commons saying: “The inquiry has suggested there be changes in the way Number 10 is run and there’s a real opportunity to take forward this new office of the prime minister and ensure improvements are made so we can carry on delivering.
“Because what the parties opposite hate is that this government will carry on delivering on what matters most to people.”
Ms Gray’s report said: “Against the backdrop of the pandemic, when the Government was asking citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify. Every citizen has been impacted by the pandemic.
“Everyone has made personal sacrifices, some the most profound, having been unable to see loved ones in their last moments or care for vulnerable family and friends. At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government but also of the standards expected of the entire British public at the time.
“Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. The excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time.”