Boris Johnson has caved in to pressure to concede he will ask Sue Gray to publish a fuller report into the extensive evidence she unearthed surrounding allegations of lockdown breaches in Downing Street.
The British prime minister first batted away widespread calls, including from senior Tories, to allow the senior civil servant to produce her complete work after the Metropolitan Police imposed wide-reaching restrictions.
But as the move further threatened to drain his support on the backbenches and Scotland Yard said it had no problem with a future report, Number 10 said Mr Johnson would publish her full report in the future.
The PM promised to publish the Sue Gray Report in full so Parliament and the British people could better appreciate the facts and draw their own conclusions.
If the PM fails to publish the report in full then he will no longer have my support. pic.twitter.com/S7lO7xWs1l— Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) January 31, 2022
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The new document could provide a flashpoint for further anger against the British prime minister, as Scotland Yard revealed it was handed more than 300 images and over 500 pages of information by Ms Gray’s team.
In a statement, a No 10 spokesperson said: “Given the police have said they are investigating a number of events, it would not be appropriate to comment further while the Met’s investigation is ongoing.
“But, at the end of the process, the Prime Minister will ask Sue Gray to update her work in light of what is found.
“He will publish that update.”
Earlier in the day, Ms Gray published an update into her work but said it was “not possible at present” to publish a “meaningful report” into her discoveries surrounding events across Downing Street and the wider UK government.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was joined by Tory MPs in calling for the full report to be published.
Julian Lewis, the chair of the UK Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, said: “May I advise him publicly what I have said to emissaries from his campaign team privately: that it is truly in his interest, in the Government’s interest, and in the national interest that he should insist on receiving the full, unredacted report immediately, as I believe he can, and that he should then publish the uncensored version without any further delay?
But Mr Johnson replied: “I think extensive legal advice has been taken on this point and Sue Gray has published everything that she thinks she can that is consistent with that advice.”
Conservative former chief whip Mark Harper urged the prime minister to publish a report from Ms Gray “immediately and in full” after the police investigation.
Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the UK Commons Defence Committee, tweeted: “If the PM fails to publish the report in full then he will no longer have my support.”
Mr Johnson was already fighting for his political future, as Tory MPs consider sending letters to the chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee calling for a vote of no confidence.
The prime minister faced pressure to commit to fuller findings, or risk another reason for MPs to hit the threshold of 54 letters to trigger a vote on his leadership.
Before the apparent U-turn, the prime minister’s official spokesman told journalists: “He will consider what is appropriate, obviously at the start of this he was the one that commissioned this report.”
Scotland Yard was clear that its order for limits on publication only covers the events it is investigating, and for the duration of their work.
A statement from the force said: “As part of the investigation it is necessary for us to contact those who attended these events to get their account.
“As a result, the Met has requested that any information identified as part of the Cabinet Office investigation about these events, is not disclosed in detail.
“This request only applies for the duration of our investigation and does not apply to events we are not investigating.”
