Partygate: pictures emerge showing Boris Johnson drinking at No 10 leaving do during lockdown – live

Good morning. Westminster is – yet again – waiting for the Sue Gray report. The first wait was terminated by the announcement of the Metropolitan police investigation, and the Met’s ruling that publication of the Gray findings in full would compromise the inquiry. There was then a wait for Gray’s interim report – or “update”, as she called it, because the police veto made it so thin it could not be called a proper report. But this week we are finally expecting the whole thing. Very few people think it will be damning enough to trigger a Tory leadership contest, but it should provide the public with by far the best account of exactly who extensive lockdown rule-breaking was in Downing Street. Until now all we’ve had are news reports, based on evidence from unidentified whistleblowers, and limited information from the Met about the fines issued – which is many respects has begged more questions than it has answered.

Gray is a long-serving and very senior civil servant and she will have noticed that, when an independent-minded figure is about to deliver a verdict hostile to No 10, it is not unusual for Downing Street’s allies in the media to launch a hit job in advance. Right on cue, today’s Daily Mail carries a report accusing her of playing politics and grandstanding. It says:

“Sue Gray is supposed to be neutral but she’s been busy playing politics and enjoying the limelight a little too much,” said one insider.

The Mail claims Gray’s team incorrectly said Downing Street was responsible for scheduling a meeting some weeks ago between Gray and Boris Johnson – which prompted claims Johnson was trying to pressurise her when it was reported on Friday night. The Mail says:

Downing Street insiders are furious at the refusal of Miss Gray’s team to set the record straight. A source said: “It is infuriating. They have let this impression run that the PM has somehow tried to nobble the report when nothing could be further from the truth.

“He wants it all out there, however uncomfortable so we can all move on. He even wants the photos published.”

Allies of the PM have been shocked by media briefings from Miss Gray’s team.

Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, had to respond on the morning interview round this morning on behalf of the government. He made three main points on Partygate.

I would [condemn it]. I think the one thing I would say about Sue Gray, and I have never met her but I have heard a great deal about her, is that by repute she is one of the most fiercely independent and professional civil servants in the whole of government and brings a vast range of experience to bear, so I don’t think there is any politics.

In no way do I think there is anything other than a practical dimension to the question of when it comes out, now that the police have concluded their investigation.

I think we also need to remember, without excusing what happened, but by way of context, the extraordinary pressure that group of people were under during the course of the pandemic.

They were working the longest imaginable hours under the most enormous amount of pressure. That in no way diminishes the seriousness of what happened, but it does provide some context.

As my colleague Peter Walker argues, this sounds like a preview of the case for the defence we will hear from No 10 when the full report comes out.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: The ONS publishes a report on hybrid working.

Morning: Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer are doing separate visits in or near London. They are both due to record clips for broadcasters.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

1pm: Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, gives evidence to the Lords science and technology committee on the UK science strategy.

2.30pm: Tim Davie, the BBC director general, gives evidence to the Lords communications and digital committee on the future of the BBC licence fee.

After 3.30pm: MPs begin the second reading debate on the public order bill.

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