Thread by @ShepherdWales

There is no doubt that there were parties(in the traditional sense)within WM during the covid pandemic

I don’t doubt the evidence contained within #SueGray reports

I say reports because she released two

One when @metpoliceuk took over and one at end 🧵👇 1/?

What never sat right with me in #SueGray ‘s report was that the evidence contained in the final report showed that Boris was barely at these events AND YET

2.

He was being held as the focus (indirectly) within the narrative whilst the behaviour of senior civil servants appeared to be less significant and imo they were let off the hook

Why?

In fact in @PaulBrandITV podcast one of the female whistleblowers agrees with me on this
3.

I am suspicious of the length of time it took for #SueGray to get to her conclusions

Coincidentally she was ready to publish just at the point when other Labour leaning forces (London Mayor/GoodLawProject) successfully pushed the @metpoliceuk to start investigating
4

Because the Met were taking over she was unable to publish her full findings but #SueGray released an interim one 👇
5.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

I read it at the time and thought it read quite bad for @BorisJohnson but knowing what we found out in the main report it was actually senior civil servants at the helm

#SueGray was basically reporting on events that the @metpolice had deemed were NOT breaking the law
6.

They were events that were NOTcriminal

So should #SueGray have even reported on them at that time?

With hindsight,I think most would say that the 1st report influenced opinion without full facts being disclosed

Bit like telling the jury half of the story months before trial
7

In her first report she couldn’t expressly state who was responsible for what?

I believe this fuelled the feverish nature of the #partygate saga &encouraged MPs to form a view prior to the end of the police investigation

They were being pushed a narrative &they bought it
8a

Was this timing at the behest of the Labour Party?

Was the decision to report on the non criminal findings at that time influenced by her politics?
8b

I suspect some @Conservatives MPs never even bothered to read the final report: mind already made up
9

I remember watching the debate when @BorisJohnson apologised and corrected the record

It was a nasty, vindictive bullying pile on and I remember wondering if they’d read the same #SueGray report that I had 🤷‍♀️
10

So at the end of the @metpoliceuk investigation the only party that @BorisJohnson was at when it was deemed to be breaking the law was his birthday gathering over lunch in the cabinet office: reported on AT THE TIME
11.

And yet he was held responsible for the over 100 fines given out for parties, many of which-including the main one at Prince Philips funeral eve- where he wasn’t even in London BUT senior civil servants were at

12

In fact-again in the TV documentary one of the whistleblowers mentioned that most raucous parties happened on a Friday night when Boris had left for chequers.

13

Boris Johnson was not responsible for the civil servants

He was not their line manager

14

The final report of #SueGray even taking into account that the only event that was deemed to be breaking the law that @BorisJohnson attended was the June 19th 2020 cake one still chose to not explicitly state in her final report the distinction between civil servants& politicians

Sue Gray, I don’t believe was impartial in her findings of the parties but I think the write up&timings could be seen to be impartial in the lack of clarity about the fact that the senior civil servants: responsible for ethics,writing covid rules,CSStaff were at these events
16

It also didn’t help that the media were exaggerating&spinning the whole drama for months prior to release of the final report

@Conservatives MPs need to reflect on what happened &ask themselves: is the FPN for cake worth a Starmer government?

As that’s what you’re getting
End

Addendum

Worth just taking in some of the barrage of tweets of opinion from Barrister Adam Wagner based if that 1st interim report from #SueGray

Knowing what we now know from the @metpoliceuk and final report- was this appropriate or instilling a narrative??

No mention of CS