Saga underscores need for urgent reform of rules governing integrity in public office

April 19, 2022 – Sue Gray’s report into parties in Downing Street and Whitehall during lockdown should be published in full as soon as possible, Transparency International UK said today.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak are among those issued fines by the Metropolitan Police following an investigation into lockdown-breaking parties.

A Cabinet Office report, compiled by senior civil servant Sue Gray, is expected to provide detail on these gatherings. An update on her investigation was released in January this year but the report is yet to be published.

The ‘partygate’ saga also highlights the need for major and urgent reform of the measures to ensure honesty and integrity from British politicians.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life last year made a series of recommendations to improve transparency and accountability in politics. Transparency International UK has previously warned that failing to implement these measures would be a deliberate choice to leave the door wide open to impropriety in public office.

Daniel Bruce, Chief Executive of Transparency International UK, said:

“Recent events have again underscored the precarious state of the UK’s safeguards against impropriety by those in government. Convention dictates the Prime Minister is the owner and arbiter of the Ministerial Code, which is clear that all ministers must uphold the law. We continue to call for this convention-based system to be overhauled with the Ministerial Code itself to be enshrined in law. Government should also enact, with urgency, the full set of reforms recommended by the Committee on Standards in Public Life last year.

“The Prime Minister has previously committed to publish Sue Gray’s report and then answer questions from MPs. Now that the police have concluded that laws were repeatedly broken in Downing Street during the pandemic, the full report into what happened – as well as who knew what and when - should be released as soon as possible. Anything less would suggest her investigation was not commissioned in order to provide transparency and accountability, but merely as a ruse to defer and avoid it.”

Notes to editors:

Transparency International UK’s Chief Executive Daniel Bruce gave evidence to the Committee on Standards in Public Life in March.

Banner image: pcruciatti - stock.adobe.com