Partygate: PM criticised over treatment of No 10 cleaners and guards
- Published
Boris Johnson apologised for the way some Downing Street staff had been dealt with by officials
Labour has attacked Boris Johnson over the treatment of cleaners and security guards outlined in Sue Gray's report on Downing Street lockdown parties.
The senior civil servant found "multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment" of staff by officials when gatherings took place.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called the behaviour "beyond shameful".
And senior Labour MP Chris Bryant said No 10 under Mr Johnson had become a "cesspit", full of "narcissists".
Addressing the Commons following the publication of Ms Gray's long-awaited report, the prime minister said it was "absolutely disgraceful in any circumstances to be rude to people who are helping you".
"It's intolerable and I will make sure those who are guilty of it apologise or are otherwise disciplined," he added.
Speaking later at a No 10 press conference, Mr Johnson said he had "begun to make inquiries" into who had been rude to colleagues.
But one member of the PCS union, who works in the Cabinet Office, which supports the work of the prime minister, said: "There's been a culture of bullying, harassment and sexism in No 10 for many years
"It was going on behind [former Prime Minister] Theresa May's back before [Mr Johnson] took office, yet he did nothing to address it. His empty words will be no consolation to the hard-working cleaners and security guards who have suffered under his leadership."
In her report, Ms Gray found Downing Street officials had partied during lockdown with the approval of their bosses, and highlighted examples of excessive drinking, with one attendee being sick.
She also described "multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff", which she called "unacceptable".
The report noted that, on the morning following an end-of-year cheese-and-wine party on 18 December 2020: "A cleaner who attended the room the next morning noted that there had been red wine spilled on one wall and on a number of boxes of photocopier paper."
On Tuesday, the BBC's Panorama reported one Downing Street insider describing how a security guard had been mocked when they tried to stop one party in full flow.
'Despicable'
In the Commons, Mr Bryant said: "The most despicable thing of all is that Sue Gray says she saw multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff, because they knew what the rules meant even if nobody else does.
"Does [the prime minister] show no contrition, no sense of shame that Downing Street under him has been a cesspit, full of arrogant, entitled narcissists?"
In a reference to the drinking society Mr Johnson was a member of while at Oxford University, Ms Rayner said: "Boris Johnson has turned Downing Street into a vomit-stained Bullingdon Club."
Another Labour MP, Alison McGovern, asked Mr Johnson if he had personally apologised to the cleaners and security staff.
"This is the first I've seen of the detailed criticisms of civil servants for that abuse," the prime minister replied.
"I've said I think it's intolerable and I'll make sure staff, custodians, cleaners who were treated disrespectfully get a proper apology, I've apologised to them today already from this despatch box."
Staff grievances
Downing Street insiders have told Panorama that they arrived at work during lockdown to find bottles lying around, bins overflowing and empty drinks left on the table.
For the Liberal Democrats, MP Wendy Chamberlain said Mr Johnson should dock several thousand pounds from his own salary to pay cleaners for the extra work that resulted.
While Ms Gray's report was critical of the treatment of Downing Street cleaners and security guards, it said steps had since been taken "to introduce more easily accessible means by which to raise concerns electronically".
"I hope that this will truly embed a culture that welcomes and creates opportunities for challenge and speaking up at all levels," it added.