A senior civil servant, Sue Gray has finally released her long-anticipated report on lockdown gatherings held in and around Downing Street during the coronavirus lockdown in the United Kingdom in 2020.

She investigated 16 events among which the police found multiple breaches of Covid rules during the beginning of the pandemic by government officials.

Her report criticises the culture and leadership in Downing Street which also includes photos of gatherings and the names of some of those who attended.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Professor David Den from the International School of Politics at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom says the investigation did not look at the key civil servants involved in the ‘partygate’.

“The hypocrisy of these events has been in the centre of this and of course the lying to parliament because Johnson has repeatedly said there was no partying going on and there was nothing to see here,” says Professor Den.

However, professor Den argues that even though the report talks of failure in leadership, it does not say whether that leadership is civil service or the man in charge of the office.

A parliamentary investigation is expected to take place on the allegations made against Johnson.

“It has damaged the reputation of the prime minister and the conservative party which has been behind in the opinion polls for at least 6 months now,” says Professor Den.

He adds that if the report was released earlier, it might have resulted in the resignation of Johnson as prime minister.

“People are getting tired of the issue and that has been successful politics in terms of trying to dampen down the impact of what is an extraordinary series of events,” said Professor Den.

So far, the conservative party has been suffering at the polls following the ‘partygate’ scandal.