The Metropolitan Police force has said that it will not disclose the names of individuals issued with fixed-penalty notices after it has concluded its investigation into lockdown gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall.
The statement has cast doubt on whether the public will ever be informed as to whether prime minister Boris Johnson or other high-ranking officials acted in breach of the law.
However, the police have said that they will reveal the total number of penalties issued and explanations as to why, if it is uncovered that attendees of the gatherings broke the rules.
The Met is currently investigating 12 gatherings which took place while Covid restrictions were in force.
Despite the statement from the Metropolitan Police force, the Labour party has urged government to release the details of who was punished, arguing that the public has a right to receive such information.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has repeated calls for Sue Gray’s full report to be published after the police investigation is concluded, tweeting that the government must not be allowed to “hide the results.”
The tweet also read that the public has a “right to know if the prime minister is found to have committed an offence.”
While some Conservative MPs have withdrawn their support for Johnson following this week's release of Sue Gray’s redacted report, cabinet ministers have rallied around the prime minister.
Following the publication of Sue Gray’s conclusions, Johnson issued an apology and promised an overhaul of how Downing Street operates. Since then, justice secretary Dominic Raab has insisted that the PM had sufficiently “taken responsibility” for allowing the gatherings to happen and had “acted in good faith at all times”.
Sue Gray’s report released this week did not disclose most of the senior civil servant’s findings, after the Metropolitan Police asked for “minimal reference” to be made to the gatherings it was investigating so as not to infringe on its own inquiry.
However, Gray was able to share her conclusion that a “failure of leadership” was largely to blame for allowing rule-breaking to occur in Downing Street.
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