The Met police delay of the partygate report will only deepen the public feeling that those in authority cannot be trusted
It’s beginning to look a lot like a cover-up. Is that too cynical? Maybe we should just congratulate Boris Johnson on a wonderful piece of luck, a convenient turn of events just in the nick of time. Having seen nothing to investigate in the partygate affair until this week, the Metropolitan police swooped down at the very moment Sue Gray was ready to press print on her long-awaited report – one that threatened to terminate Johnson’s premiership – and stayed her hand.
The Met told Gray she can say what she likes about parties in Downing Street, so long as she says nothing about parties in Downing Street. Or as it put it: “For the events the Met is investigating, we asked for minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report.” It stresses that it “did not ask for any limitations on other events in the report”, which is a bit like saying: “On all the stuff that no one cares about, go ahead: knock yourself out.” Indeed, with this move, the Met have all but ensured that whatever remains of Gray’s report will, if ever published, be waved away by Johnson and his defenders: if Gray was allowed to publish it, they’ll say, it can’t be that serious.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
