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Sue Gray, the second permanent secretary in the Cabinet Office, in a 12-page ‘update’ on her investigation into 16 gatherings in Downing Street, refrained from comment on particular cases, 12 of which were being looked into by police. ‘Some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify,’ she concluded. ‘There was a serious failure to observe… the standards expected of the entire British population.’ Some events ‘should not have been allowed to take place’. She said that ‘excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace’. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, told the Commons that he ‘wanted to say sorry’. ‘I get it and I will fix it,’ he said, promising a new Office of the Prime Minister. He did not promise parliament the publication in full of a further report by Sue Gray. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition, emphasised that the Prime Minister was being investigated by police. Ian Blackford, the Commons leader of the Scottish National party, had to leave the chamber after refusing to withdraw claims that the Prime Minister had lied. Mr Johnson, asked if there was a culture of drug-taking in Downing Street, replied: ‘Direct that question to the Labour front bench.’ Barry Cryer, the comedian, died aged 86.
The government withdrew its threat to sack NHS staff who refused to be vaccinated. Re-infections were found to make up one in ten cases in the current wave of Omicron. In the seven days up to the beginning of this week, 1,926 people had died with coronavirus, bringing total deaths (within 28 days of testing positive) to 155,613. (In the previous week, deaths had numbered 1,888.) Numbers with Covid remaining in hospital fell in a week from about 18,000 to 16,000.
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