Gray report: Uncomfortable questions for Boris Johnson
- Published
Sue Gray's initial report might be short on detail. But what she makes perfectly clear is that even the bare bones of what went on in Downing Street and the Cabinet Office during lockdown were unacceptable in her view.
In Whitehall speak, to say there were "serious failures" in leadership is near-condemnation.
Ms Gray reveals that three new gatherings took place that weeks of reporting have not previously uncovered - and she confirms that a dozen of them are being investigated by the police.
Most risky for No 10, we can now be sure that three events the police are looking into were ones Boris Johnson himself attended.
There's an investigation, too, into what happened not just in the government buildings, which are a warren of multiple rooms, but a gathering in the private flat above the shop.
What's also fascinating is that Ms Gray repeatedly makes the point that what went wrong matters not just because it was ill-advised in the office, but because the public were being asked to make their own sacrifices during this period.
That's why all of this has concerned so many members of the public. That's why so many Tory MPs have been angered by what went on.
By Ms Gray's counting - after interviewing more than 70 people - on 16 occasions, some of those who worked at the heart of government did not obey those rules.
Forget all the process around what and when the report would be published, the back-and-forth with the Met, the claims and denials.
This is an official verdict that Downing Street will try to move on from, but not all of the public, not all of his MPs, may be able to forgive.