It is Tory MPs who hold Boris Johnson’s fate in their hands. The key question now is how do those Tories who said that they were waiting for the Sue Gray report react to this update.
On the one hand, it is clearly not her report. She writes that the police investigation means that ‘it is not possible at present to provide a meaningful report setting out and analysing the extensive factual information I have been able to gather.’ On the other, this update is highly critical saying that:
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 population at the time… There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No. 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times.
Among those MPs who were waiting for Gray, there is a mixed reaction. Some feel that because it is not the report they are still in a holding pattern. But one former minister I have spoken to now feels that they have seen enough.
Johnson is moving to shore up his position, he’s addressing all Tory MPs at 6.30 p.m. today. But first he has to get through a statement in the House of Commons chamber which took place at just after 3.30 p.m. (video above and here). It will be well worth watching to see how his own benches react to him and whether any Tory MP criticises him directly.
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