Month: May 2022

Her investigation was launched following media reports of multiple gatherings in or near Downing Street during the pandemic.

Her previous interim report criticised leadership within No 10 and said some events should not have taken place.

Downing Street is expected to receive the report in the morning and has promised to publish its findings.

After the report’s findings are published, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make his promised statement to the Commons.

No 10 said it hoped this could take place at 12:30 – after Mr Johnson has faced Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions – but has warned the timings may slip depending on when the PM receives the report.

It comes after further revelations in recent days about gatherings held in Downing Street during lockdown, with photos of the PM raising a glass at a leaving do leaked to ITV and insiders revealing the extent of the gatherings to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

In a BBC Panorama report, people who attended the events told of how staff crowded together and sat on each other’s laps and how party debris was left out overnight.

The insiders also said parties went on so late that, on occasion, some ended up staying in Downing Street all night, and that staff mocked others who tried to stop what was going on.

The revelations have sparked fresh claims from opposition MPs and others that Mr Johnson knowingly misled Parliament when he previously told the Commons no Covid rules had been broken in Downing Street.

There have also been calls for the Metropolitan Police to explain why Mr Johnson did not receive a fine for attending the leaving do, when at least one person at the event was fined.

Plenty of Conservative MPs acknowledge privately the revelations of the last six months have permanently damaged the prime minister’s reputation in the eyes of many.

His character, his judgement, his integrity. Bluntly, whether he tells the truth.

The government is braced for a difficult day.

But the volcanic anger of many Tory MPs just a few months ago has cooled; their appetite for revolution, replacing him, significantly dimmed.

No 10 appointed the UK’s top civil servant, Simon Case, to lead an inquiry into gatherings held in Downing Street and Whitehall during the pandemic after a raft of allegations emerged at the end of last year.

However, he was forced to step aside in December after it was revealed a party took place in his own office.

Ms Gray took on the job, examining 16 events over a dozen dates between May 2020 and April 2021.

But her report was delayed in January when the Metropolitan Police launched its own investigation into 12 of the gatherings.

An interim report published by Ms Gray, days later, pointed to “failures of leadership and judgement” by parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office.

But now the Met has completed its investigation – which resulted in 126 fines, including one for the prime minister for attending a birthday party – Ms Gray can publish her full findings.

As well as his appearance in the Commons, the prime minister will face a meeting of the Tory backbench 1922 committee in the afternoon.

Mr Johnson has managed to keep the support of the majority of his party so far, but many Conservatives have said they were waiting to read Ms Gray’s full report before deciding on his future as their leader.

Tory MP Charles Walker told the BBC that the report would “make uncomfortable reading”, but the “seminal moment” for the PM had been when the police report concluded and he faced no more fines.

“My suspicion is – actually my strong inclination is – the prime minister is through the worst of it,” he added.

Fellow Tory MP Stuart Anderson also said: “People have moved on from this.”

Asked if he was nervous of the report, he added: “I’ll be glad when it’s done. Nobody wants to be in this scenario, but let’s get it done and move forward.”

Others have been more critical since the revelations, however, with former Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland saying Mr Johnson will have to resign if he knowingly misled Parliament.

He told BBC Radio Wiltshire: “Legitimate questions have to be raised, and that’s why I want to see the fullest explanation.”

Democratic congressman Dan Kildee urged Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to have face-to-face negotiations with Brussels.

The group met Irish premier Micheál Martin on Monday in Dublin, and will later visit Northern Ireland.

But the DUP said their view of the protocol was “one-sided”.

On Monday, Mr Martin said there was “a deep well of support” for a “joint, pragmatic solution” to concerns over the protocol.

He was speaking alongside Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, who said the EU had “shown maximum flexibility” in negotiations.

A nine-strong team led by Congressman Richard Neal is visiting to discuss the post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Mr Kildee, who met Ms Truss over the weekend, said there was no indication the UK Government intends to “change course”.

“It’s important, and we stress this, that the (UK Government) negotiate and that they not take unilateral action,” Mr Kildee told RTE Morning Ireland.

“The only way we can come to agreement, the only way we protect the incredible progress that’s represented with the Good Friday Agreement, is face-to-face negotiation.

“We think unilateral solutions will not work, face-to-face negotiation to work out some of these technical questions can be achieved.”

Speaking in Kerry on Sunday, Mr Neal said the US would be “unwavering” in its support of the Good Friday Agreement.

But the DUP says the protocol will destroy the agreement.

Economy Minister Mr Lyons said it was “not going to be an easy task” to explain that view to the US delegation.

But speaking on BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster programme on Monday, Mr Lyons said his party would be very clear when it meets with the US team, that “rather than protecting the Good Friday Agreement and its successor agreements, the protocol actually damages them”.

“It is not going to be an easy task,” Mr Lyons said.

“I previously met with Congressman Neal in Washington and reminded him and [House of Representatives Speaker] Nancy Pelosi of the problems with the protocol.

“It is fair to say they weren’t interested and we’re going to have a particular challenge with Congressman Neal.”

Mr Lyons said Mr Neal was a supporter of Irish unification and that he had worked closely with Friends of Sinn Féin.

“So yet again we’re dealing with more American politicians who are one sided and that adds to the challenges too,” he added.

Mr Lyons said his party wanted to see movement on the protocol but also accused the EU of being “painfully slow” at recognising issues surrounding the post-Brexit trading mechanism.

The protocol is a special arrangement that keeps Northern Ireland aligned with the EU single market for goods, avoiding a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

The arrangement ensured free trade could continue across the Irish land border, which is a sensitive issue because of the history of conflict in Northern Ireland.

But it brought in some new checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and has been criticised by unionist politicians since its introduction in 2021.

They say it has undermined Northern Ireland’s place in the UK and that it has led to increased costs for consumers.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald met Mr Neal in Dublin on Monday.

Following the meeting, Ms McDonald tweeted: “The USA stands resolute in defence of the Good Friday Agreement and the protocol. It is imperative that the executive is formed. No delay.”

On a visit to County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland on Sunday, Mr Neal described the United States as a “guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement”.

“The Good Friday Agreement has worked, and it’s worked quite well,” he said.

Ms Truss announced on Tuesday that new legislation would be introduced to change the protocol.

Faced with the climate emergency, Aberdeen is having to move away from an industry that has created half a million jobs and brought almost incalculable wealth to north east Scotland.

But what happens next? Some young people are still banking on a career in the oil industry. Others are focusing on a future in renewable energy.

As politicians argue over a “just transition” to a greener future, thousands of jobs and the future of the planet depend on finding the right answers.

At Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University (RGU), drilling and well engineering students are still hopeful of pursuing a career in oil and gas.

The vast majority are from parts of the world where energy transition is not so high up the political agenda – and many have no plans to stay in Scotland after they graduate.

They know that the world is still dependent on fossil fuels to heat homes, fuel vehicles and power industry.

Despite the moves towards producing more clean energy in Scotland, more than three-quarters (76.5%) of the country’s energy consumption came from oil and gas in 2019.

Affan Peshimam, 30, from India, is following in the footsteps of his father who worked in the oil and gas sector in the North Sea.

He said: “I love the smell of petrol. I love working offshore away from civilisation.”

And he’s convinced that he can enjoy a full career in the industry in India once he’s graduated in Aberdeen.

“There’s still a lot of oil remaining, at least 30 or 40 years more,” he said. “Every time they say the peak has come, I don’t think so. Maybe for the North Sea.

“For certain parts of the world where there’s no oil left, the peak has come. But in Africa and India and the Far East we still have so much reserves left we can’t just keep them.

“Of course we have started some solar but we are still dependent on oil and gas. And coal, obviously.”

Affan is right about the North Sea – production peaked about 20 years ago and since then the UK has gone from producing more oil and gas than it needs, to importing it from other countries.

As prices rise following the Covid pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this has raised concerns about UK energy security.

It has led to calls from some quarters for more oil fields – like the controversial Cambo field – to be opened to offset decades of decline.

Ryan Crighton, of the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said the growing energy deficit leaves Scotland with two choices: “To produce more domestically, with full control over the regulatory environment in which it is extracted. Or to import more energy from overseas, without the tax revenues that the North Sea gives us.

“The latter makes little economic sense and even less environmental sense.”

Others – including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – argue that accelerating the transition to more renewable forms of energy is the best response to the crisis.

Eta Etta-Agbor, another drilling and well engineering student at RGU, knows she is acquiring skills which could be transferred to the renewables industry, if it comes to it.

But the 42-year-old from Nigeria – which has some of the largest oil reserves in Africa – aspires to work for one of the majors like Shell or Chevron.

“What we are learning here, I could easily switch into the (renewables) industry but the fact is there will still be lots of drilling taking place,” she said.

And she pointed to the importance of gas in generating electricity – the UK, and England and Wales in particular, still relies on it heavily.

“Gas is essentially like the next fuel that can be used for electricity so we’ll still be drilling more gas in the future so I’ll still be relevant in the industry,” she said.

But over the next decade the mix of fuel generating electricity in Scotland will be transformed beyond recognition.

Coal power will end and many of our nuclear power stations will come to the end of their lives. Offshore wind is likely to become the powerhouse of our economy.

The ScotWind leasing round alone, announced in January, will generate enough electricity when it’s at maximum capacity to power about 85% of the UK’s homes.

It will see 17 new offshore wind projects built in waters around Scotland, with each expected to spend an average of £1.5bn on its supply chain.

The projects – many backed by big name oil and gas firms with the deep pockets necessary to invest in new technology – will also need a new workforce.

Their existing employees are among those switching to the greener jobs.

Harry Waugh was initially attracted to the oil and gas industry because of his love of engineering, problem-solving and “big things”.

He worked as an engineer in oil and gas for 11 years before moving into renewables as a project manager for an offshore wind farm.

There is a “ridiculous amount” of experience among his former colleagues which could be transferred into offshore renewables, the 34-year-old from Perth said.

And as wages in the renewable sector begin to equal those in oil and gas, he expects to see more people make the leap.

But he warned that green jobs were unlikely to be able to replace every traditional North Sea position.

There were 4,700 full time equivalent jobs supported by Scotland’s offshore wind industry in 2019, compared to 86,000 oil and gas jobs in the same year.

“An offshore oil and gas production plant is quite a complicated beast,” he said. “A $3bn oil and gas plant will have 100 people offshore; a $3bn wind farm will have nobody offshore.

“It’s not a job-for-job situation. In development and commissioning, it’s the same numbers but as soon as the turbines are spinning, it flicks to a different beast.”

As the offshore wind industry begins to ramp up, Ryan Crighton is clear that Scotland must avoid a “cliff edge” end to North Sea oil and gas production.

“We need to keep this highly-skilled [oil and gas] workforce in work while we develop the low carbon technologies of the future,” the policy director of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce said.

“Those jobs aren’t there at scale right now. However, if we can manage this transition correctly, then research suggests we could end up with more people employed in our energy sector than we do right now. That is the outcome we should strive for.

“This region will benefit from being one of the first to tackle these challenges, and over time has the potential to become a net exporter of net zero.”

And BP’s head of UK operations, Louise Kingham agrees. She said they are “quite convinced” enough jobs can be created in its alternative energies business to replace those lost by the shift away from oil.

“We have real ambition to make sure that we can provide opportunities for people to move from one aspect of the energy work that we do to another.”

It’s not just the engineers on the rigs who are seeing huge changes in Aberdeen’s energy industry.

Many of those in businesses which have long supported oil and gas firms’ traditional operations are adapting to changing priorities.

Among them are firms like North Star, which started out in fishing before the oil boom of the 1970s saw them dip their toe in new waters.

They now have dozens of ships supporting the oil and gas sector but have just won contracts to provide vessels for the Dogger Bank wind farm off the north east coast of England.

Their cadet training programme creates the next generation of mariners to support whatever industry is out there.

Engine cadet Courtney Stanton is responsible for machinery maintenance on the Grampian Freedom, a 980 tonne standby vessel with a length of 58 metres.

She explained: “As long as there’s going to be oil rigs in the sea there’s always going to need to be a standby ship or a supply ship.”

She said the addition of the renewables sector is a “welcome and needed change” and believes it would be exciting to work in this area.

But at the start of her career she is not fazed saying “jobs will be created which is brilliant and with us in the merchant navy, we tend to go to where the demand is.”

Meanwhile Paul Hudson runs Maersk Training’s UK operation, which is centred on Aberdeen.

He explained: “We all know the pace of energy transition is picking up so we, like other businesses, just have to adapt to that. It’s why we’ve made investments in new facilities specific to the renewables industry for example.”

Those new facilities at their Portlethen site, south of Aberdeen, focus on rope and climbing skills as well as more traditional needs like firefighting.

Workers are more likely to travel to wind turbines by boat rather than helicopter which is more common for rigs.

Paul adds that demand for renewable skills is growing but “for us, oil and gas will still remain a big part of the throughput of training that we do.”

It comes after ITV released new pictures showing the PM raising a glass at a leaving do on 13 November 2020.

The police watchdog has been urged to review the Met’s handling of the Partygate investigation.

Meanwhile, civil servant Sue Gray’s report into No 10 parties is imminent, a Downing Street source said.

The prime minister and the Met are under fresh scrutiny after ITV News published four new photographs on Monday it says were taken at the leaving do for Mr Johnson’s communications chief, Lee Cain.

Mr Johnson is pictured toasting colleagues while standing by a table laden with wine bottles and wine glasses.

A second coronavirus lockdown was in place in England at the time the photographs were taken, with indoor gatherings of two or more people banned, except if “reasonably necessary” for work purposes.

The BBC has been told that at least one person who attended the event has received a fixed penalty notice, but Mr Johnson has not. The Met has declined to explain why the prime minister was not fined over the leaving party.

The Liberal Democrats have written to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, urging it to investigate the Met’s probe into events in No 10 and Whitehall during lockdown.

The party’s deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “If anyone else had been pictured at a party like this during lockdown, surely this would have been enough evidence for them to be fined.

“It does seem that there has been one rule for the prime minister and another for everyone else.”

A No 10 spokeswoman said the Cabinet Office and the police had been given access to information, including photographs.

The emergence of the photographs has sparked fresh claims from opposition MPs and others that Mr Johnson knowingly misled Parliament when he previously told them no Covid rules had been broken in Downing Street.

The prime minister faces a probe by the Commons’ Privileges Committee about whether he lied to MPs. Under government guidelines, ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to resign.

Responding to the leaked pictures, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the PM had “demeaned his office” and that “the British people deserve better”.

The peer and former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, said the prime minister’s position was untenable, while veteran Tory MP Sir Roger Gale said the new images were “damning” and suggested Mr Johnson should quit.

Just when the prime minister might have hoped the bumpy moments of Partygate might be beginning to ease, these pictures emerge.

We already knew about the event in question.

But there’s one thing knowing about a party, something else seeing pictures from it. Pictures of partying when the rest of the country was in lockdown.

The big question, though, is how much does it matter?

How many minds will move, particularly among Conservative MPs who, remember, have the capacity to remove a party leader if they choose?

You can read Chris’s full blog here.

But Conservative backbench MP Sir Desmond Swayne said he believed it was a “work do”, adding “that’s what people do at work”.

He told BBC Newsnight: “Now I understand entirely the public anguish at a time when they were locked down and they were not supposed to be together, but there clearly was a distinction between the workplace – where people work together and are effectively in a bubble – and what was taking place outside.”

A No 10 spokeswoman said the prime minister would address parliament “in full” after senior civil servant Sue Gray published her report into the gatherings “in the coming days”.

Allegations about events held in Downing Street and Whitehall during the pandemic led to a Metropolitan Police probe into 12 events.

The inquiry concluded last week, with a total of 126 fines being handed to 83 people for parties held over eight separate dates.

Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak all received a fine each for attending a birthday party thrown in the PM’s honour in June 2020.

But No 10 confirmed the PM was not facing any additional fines from the police.

MPs are also awaiting the outcome of an investigation by Durham Police into a gathering in the city on 30 April 2021 attended by Labour leader Keir Starmer and his deputy Ms Rayner.

Sir Keir has said he will resign if he is fined for attending the event.