Sue Gray report: Doncaster Tory MP Nick Fletcher backs rule-breaking Prime Minister over ‘Partygate’ and says ‘it’s time to move on’

Borough MPs have reacted to the long-awaited Sue Gray report which investigated the culture of drinking and parties inside No 10 Downing Street during various Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Gray’s report found that members of staff partied in Downing Street while the rest of the country was in lockdown with the approval of their bosses.

The report also highlights excessive drinking, with staff being sick, and the abuse of cleaning and security staff.

Her report highlighted that warnings around gatherings inside No10 ‘were ignored’.

The report also includes new photos of the PM toasting the departure of a special advisor in November 2020 when the country was in the second national lockdown.

The picture also includes several people who are blurred out with several bottles of wine on the table.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs in the House of Commons on Wednesday that he took ‘full responsibility’. He added he had been ‘humbled’ by the experience and had ‘learned lessons.

Despite calls from a number of his own Conservative MPs to resign, Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher backed the Prime Minister to get on with the job.

Fletcher said: “The report expands on the evidence of poor leadership by senior management within this sprawling complex of offices which is a place of business, and also one where both Civil Servants and politicians live as well as work.

“A fine was issued. The Prime Minister decided not to contest this for his own reasons. Therefore he has accepted this and paid the £50 fine.

“The PM has apologised for these events multiple times. But we must draw a line under this period and move on.

“I personally need to get on with my job and continue to bring aspiration and opportunity to our great city and lobby the Government to continue levelling up.”

But Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband said that the PM should resign ‘but he will not’ due to it being ‘one rule for him and another rule for everyone else’.

Doncaster Central MP Dame Rosie Winterton added there needed to be ‘decency brought back into politics’ and said she was concerned about the behaviour in Number 10, including suggestions that security and cleaning staff were poorly treated and people thought they had, ‘got away with’ their drinks events.

Mr Miliband said: “The Gray report shows that while people in Doncaster were following the rules, making enormous sacrifices and separated from loved ones, Boris Johnson was overseeing a culture of repeated rule-breaking, flouting the regulations and acting without regard to what others were going through.

“The prime minister will try to evade responsibility but it is his leadership, his approach, his culture that has been laid bare.

“He should resign after this report, but he will not because with Boris Johnson, it is one rule for him and another rule for everyone else.”