
No 10 has now received the Sue Gray report, the Cabinet Office says.
Or at least a version of it. Here is the statement from a Cabinet Office spokesperson:
We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the prime minister.
The description of the report as an “update” implies that Gray definitely does not see it as the finished version (she has had to leave out the most incriminating material at the request of the police), and perhaps that she does envisage publishing a final version once the police inquiry is over.
The use of the word “update” rather than report may also imply that the document coming today is even more minimal than anticipated.
Downing Street has confirmed that it will published the Sue Gray report – or at least the vanilla version out today (see 11.22am) – before Boris Johnson delivers his statement to MPs at 3.30pm.
It will be published on the government’s website.
We have not got an exact timing. Sometimes a document like this might appear an hour or so before the Commons statement, but more often than not it drops much closer to the start of the ministerial speech in the chamber.
From Times Radio’s Tom Newton Dunn
Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn)
I’m told Gray’s use of the word ‘update’ to describe what she has handed to No10 rather than ‘report’ is very pregnant. Because of the omissions forced by the Met, she is adamant it is not the finished article, and by implication should not be seen by anyone as the final word.
There will be two other statements in the Commons after Boris Johnson’s, according to the parliamentary authorities. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, will make a statement on Russian sanctions, and that will be followed by a statement from Sajid Javid, the health secretary, on the compulsory vaccine requirement for NHS workers. (See 9.42am.)
The Commons authorities have announced that Boris Johnson will make a statement to MPs at 3.30pm on the Sue Gray report.
In its press release on the “Brexit freedoms” bill, Downing Street cites the vaccine rollout as one of the benefits of Brexit. Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, made the same claim during his morning interview round, telling LBC: “The biggest single benefit [from Brexit] came in the form of the vaccine programme … in terms of both procuring vaccines and getting them safely licensed.”
The claim that vaccine approval was quicker in the UK because of Brexit is not true (see here or here, for example). It is arguable that a pro-European government might have been more willing to participate in the EU’s vaccine procurement programme than Boris Johnson’s, but that is supposition, not fact. Some EU countries made their own vaccine procurement arrangements, and even when it was in the EU, the UK frequently acted unilaterally when it could (as it could on this issue).
As Adam Bienkov from Byline Times reports, Clarke came out with another erroneous claim in a separate interview.
Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov)
“I do not believe that he does lie,” says Simon Clarke, after being given two well-documented examples of Boris Johnson lying, and then being sacked for it. pic.twitter.com/owFvYWoFXh
This is from Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, with the latest on her talks with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, on the Northern Ireland protocol. Neither side has given much away on how the talks are going, but even the reference to a “good call” marks an improvement from the days when Lord Frost was negotiating for the UK, and relations were (in all respects) frostier.
Liz Truss (@trussliz)
Good call with @MarosSefcovic this morning. I am focussed on reaching a solution to the NI Protocol that works for all sides and look forward to meeting him again in London later this week. pic.twitter.com/eEX8MioXEN
From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges
(((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges)
This is what I was talking about last week. We’ll get Sue Gray I. Then we’ll get the Met, with inevitable fines. Then we’ll get Sue Gray The Director’s Cut. Idea Boris will be “moving on” from this is for the birds…
No 10 has now received the Sue Gray report, the Cabinet Office says.
Or at least a version of it. Here is the statement from a Cabinet Office spokesperson:
We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided an update on her investigations to the prime minister.
The description of the report as an “update” implies that Gray definitely does not see it as the finished version (she has had to leave out the most incriminating material at the request of the police), and perhaps that she does envisage publishing a final version once the police inquiry is over.
The use of the word “update” rather than report may also imply that the document coming today is even more minimal than anticipated.
And here are two more lines from Boris Johnson’s pooled interview this morning at Tilbury.
- Johnson confirmed that Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is preparing a package of measures to help people cope with the rising cost of energy. He said:
We all understand the pressures that the cost-of-living crunch is putting on people and it is being driven by the inflation you are seeing around the world, particularly in energy costs. So, we’re going to be bringing forward … I know the chancellor is looking at a package of things to abate energy costs.
There are things we can do differently and we think in a way that will encourage business to invest even more,” he told broadcasters during a visit to Tilbury docks.
In all the areas where the UK is strong – cyber, artificial intelligence, all the cutting-edge technologies of the future – we are going to make sure we do things differently and better, where appropriate.
We won’t diverge for the sake of it but we are going to make sure this is the number one place to do business and invest because of the freedoms that we have.
Obviously, any investment boost would have to be extraordinary to come even close to compensating for the 4% reduction in GDP that the UK is expected to suffer in the long term as a result of Brexit, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak)
Source says PM has told cabinet colleagues to expect Gray report later today
Source: Guardian