Johnson faces new leadership speculation amid a scathing report on alcohol culture

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Johnson will address the House of Commons at 12.30pm GMT and is expected to address his own MPs later Wednesday to try to rally the troops as new questions about his leadership accumulate.

The investigation into the heartbreaks of the British government in Whitehall was commissioned in mid-January, but was later delayed to allow police to conduct their own investigation. This investigation, which eventually issued 126 fines to 83 people, silenced Gray’s report somewhat.

Many Conservative MPs have publicly said they will suspend the trial of Johnson’s conduct until Gray is fully informed. He is still facing an investigation by the House of Commons privileges committee to see if he lied to his fellow MPs on the matter.

On one occasion in June 2020, when more than 25 people, including Johnson, gathered for an outing event with speeches, the report found that a karaoke machine was installed in an office for an event that lasted several hours.

“There was excessive alcohol consumption by some people. One individual was ill. There was a small altercation between two other people,” he found.

It was found that the event was broken “in stages” with a few staff members leaving around 9pm and the last staff member, who was left to tidy up, left at 3.13am in the morning.

In December, Johnson insisted that “the rules were followed at all times.” The Privilege Commission cannot report until the end of the year.

Pressure on Johnson has increased this week after photos of him drinking and toasting with a staff member who was leaving in November 2020 while the country was under strict measures to stay home.

Prior to the report, a BBC investigation revealed that Downing Street party attendees were so crowded at an outing that Johnson attended that some were forced to sit on the lap of others.

Officials who spoke anonymously on the BBC Panorama said they sometimes went to work to find containers full of empty party bottles the night before. Security guards who tried to stop an illegal rally laughed.

Boris Johnson apologized to the queen after the attendants had a drunken party on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral. Credit: AP

In January, Johnson apologized to the Queen after a party of drunkenness was held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral.

The police investigation, which cost taxpayers about £ 460,000 ($ 816,000), was asked to analyze only possible criminal activities, with officers collecting evidence and photographic evidence from 12 events between May 2020 and April 2021. These they included a notorious “behave.” bottle ”in the garden at 10 Downing Street.

Johnson was only fined once, though he attended several rule-breaking parties. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Treasury, and Carrie Johnson, the prime minister’s wife, were also fined.

The Prime Minister is expected to apologize again and take responsibility for the breaches, but focuses on a major cost-of-living package, which could reduce the city tax and other broader measures to ease the pressure. on energy bills.

While police focused only on who broke the rules and when, Gray sought to establish responsibility and spread the blame.

Gray established himself as a meticulous arbiter of the ministerial code of conduct, which regulates how members of government should behave as officials in charge of property and ethics in the Cabinet Office from 2012 to 2018.

Lord Kerslake, the former head of the Civil Service, said on Wednesday that he believed Johnson had “intentionally” deceived parliament into the scandal.

“He (Johnson) gave the whole impression that there was no party. He gave the whole impression that there was nothing to do here, and now I think it’s pretty clear that he fooled parliament. I think it’s pretty clear that he went intentionally cheating, “he told Times Radio.

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