Thank you for your e-mail about the Sue Gray Update Report into parties in Downing Street.
As I have previously said, I was shocked and appalled at the reports of numerous gatherings and parties at Downing Street. I am very frustrated about the “extremely limited” nature of Sue Gray’s update, whilst we await the conclusion of the Metropolitan Police investigation. As a veterinary surgeon, I am trained to make decisions based on evidence, and sadly we still do not have the full evidence. For me, this is a matter of integrity and honesty at the heart of Government and we need to get clarity and closure as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, there were some damning sections in the report saying there was a serious failure to observe the “high standards expected”, there were “failures of leadership and judgement”, and the behaviour was “difficult to justify”. When the Metropolitan Police investigation concludes I am pushing for us to also receive Sue Gray’s Report in full and I hope this will give the clarity and transparency this awful situation needs. We need integrity, honesty and trust to be at the heart of our political process. My focus will always be to serve the constituents of Penrith and The Border to the best of my ability and I am getting on with the job of standing up for their concerns in Parliament.
The current state of paralysis serves nobody as the Government should be focusing on delivering for the British people on its wide-ranging policy agenda.
I maintain my earlier position that I categorically will not defend the indefensible. I fully share the country’s outrage and upset about these Downing Street parties when people up and down the land were making huge personal and sometimes tragic sacrifices to do the right thing and obey the public health rules. We need quickly to get clarity and full transparency as to what happened. Again I maintain, if rules and indeed the law have been broken, then quite rightly there should be serious consequences for all those involved, no matter who they are.
I will continue to monitor this situation very closely.