Simon Case, the UK’s top civil servant, has said the partygate scandal was “horrifying”.
Appearing before a committee of MPs on Tuesday, the cabinet secretary was grilled on the revelations about lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street.
It was the first time he has spoken in public since the Sue Gray report was published.
“Mistakes were made, boundaries weren’t observed, some of the conduct described in Sue Gray’s report would be horrifying in any situation,” he said.
“I think people have let themselves down. People have apologised.”
Case said “a number” of civil servants had since resigned from their government jobs.
He also revealed members of the No.10 press office were facing a “disciplinary process” over how they initially responded to the allegations.
In May, the prime minister’s spokesperson apologised for having told the media that “Covid rules have been followed at all times”.
Boris Johnson was ultimately handed a fixed penalty notice by police for breaking his own Covid rules.
The scandal, which was first reported last year, almost cost the prime minister his job as Tory MPs turned against him.
While he survived a no confidence vote, Johnson’s position remains precarious.
This morning senior Conservative MP Steve Baker outlined his next moves if Johnson is found to have knowingly misled parliament over partygate.
The rebel MP warned that Johnson’s position would be “intolerable” in that instance and he would be under an obligation to resign.
“If he were not to resign in those circumstances, it may prove necessary to take action to remove him,” Baker wrote in The Times.