It’s a Shame About Gray

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sue Gray has finally published her report into Downing Street parties, and despite it being a diminished version, it was damning about the culture and structure of No. 10. What does it mean for Boris Johnson - and what happens next? The Met Police’s decision to launch their own investigation stymied Gray’s report, and reports of misogyny within the Met has put chief commissioner Cressida Dick under huge pressure. And the long-awaited levelling up white paper has been released. Was it worth the wait? - “The party in the Downing Street flat on 13th November is most dangerous for Johnson.” - Emma Norris - “Most people do think the rules were broken in Downing Street, it doesn’t really matter what the Prime Minister says.” - Tim Durrant - “No matter how independent Civil Servants are, they are not the right person to investigate the Prime Minister, who is also their boss.” - Emma Norris - “When Sue Gray announced she was going to slim down her report, the odds of Johnson staying past June went up 20%.” - Giles Wilkes Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Emma Norris. Tim Durrant and Giles Wilkes. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG. https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:14.2	I'm Bronwyn Maddox. Sue Gray has finally published her report into what parties were held and when in Downing Street.
0:20.9	Well, nearly.
0:22.2	The diminished version in the form of an update was published on Monday.
0:25.9	Even at just five and a half pages, it was damning about the culture and the structure of number 10
0:30.8	and critical of the failures of leadership, even if he didn't stick that explicitly to leader Boris Johnson. So what does this
0:39.9	mean for the Prime Minister and what happens next? Attention now turns to the Metropolitan Police,
0:44.3	whose decision to blatantly launch an investigation into the Downing Street parties seriously
0:49.3	stymie for his own report. Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick is now under huge pressure to explain her actions,
0:55.2	and for the MET to come up with its own full account.
0:57.7	That's in a week two when a devastating report on the Mets' internal culture has been released
1:02.3	by the police watchdog, exposing racism, sexism, homophobia and boasts of domestic violence.
1:08.9	And you wait for one much delayed government report to come along.
1:12.2	The long-awaited levelling up white paper has finally been published. Was it worth the wait?
1:16.7	We're going to take a look. I've got a trio of IFG Stalwarts with me in the virtual studio today.
1:21.9	Director of Research Emma is back from maternity leave. Hi. Emma, how have you been?
1:26.1	Thanks, Bronwyn. I've been good. I've been on
1:27.8	maternity leave, so I've spent a year, you know, dealing with tantrums, cleaning up mess, watching toys being
1:32.4	thrown out of the pram, not a million miles from what's been going on in Westminster. We've
1:36.2	missed you. Welcome back. Also with us is Associate Director Tim Durant. Hi, Tim. You've had a busy week. Hi, Bronwyn. It's great to be here. Yeah, it has been, well, it's been a busy week, but it's also been, you know, the Sue Gray report was a bit of an anti-climax.
1:48.4	So it's not quite the week. I think we're all expecting when we heard it was going to be published on Monday.
1:52.2	And I'm delighted, too, to be joined by IFG senior fellow Giles Wilkes. Hi, Giles. Hi, Bronwyn. How are you? I'm really well. You used to work in number 10. Then and now you write about industrial
	...

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