The Metropolitan Police have further delayed the publication of Sue Gray’s partygate report, prompting furious outrage on Twitter.
The police have asked for “minimal reference” to the parties they are investigating to be included into the senior civil servant’s report, even though the internal probe was due for publication this week.
The Met said: “For the events the Met is investigating, we asked for minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report.
“The Met did not ask for any limitations on other events in the report, or for the report to be delayed, but we have had ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office, including on the content of the report, to avoid any prejudice to our investigation.”
Just two days ago, a Whitehall official told POLITICO’s Alex Wickham: “The report would be out in full by now if the Met hadn’t charged in.
“It’s caused no end of complicated issues and the report may now have to look quite different.”
It’s now believed the report will now be stripped of details of the “number of” parties being investigated by the Met.
The police actually refused to investigate the alleged parties for several weeks, claiming they did look at “retrospective breaches” of Covid rules and that there was an absence of evidence.
The new probe was reportedly launched once Gray passed evidence of criminal activity to the Met.
Understandably, many members of the general public are frustrated at the prolonged wait of the report especially as the Cabinet Office’s internal inquiry was said to have been completed earlier this week.
Here’s a round-up of the most scathing reactions to this fresh delay on Twitter: