Scotland Yard has caused considerable confusion — and inevitably accusations of an establishment “cover up” — after asking Sue Gray to remove the most contentious sections of her much anticipated report on Boris Johnson’s alleged culpability for the various drinks parties held at 10 Downing Street whilst strict lockdown rules were in force.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Friday: “For the events the Met is investigating, we asked for minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report.
“The Met did not ask for any limitations on other events in the report, or for the report to be delayed, but we have had ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office, including on the content of the report, to avoid any prejudice to our investigation.”

Scotland Yard’s intervention might buy Boris more time but the Labour leader Keir Starmer said that “any issues of prejudice have got to be worked through”.
But, speaking to broadcasters, he added: “What I want to see is Sue Gray’s report in full and the investigation finished as quickly as possible”.

He said the “whole of government” had become “paralysed because the police are looking at what the Prime Minister was getting up to in Downing Street”.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the former Prime Minister, Theresa May, who was ousted partly because of the disloyalty shown by Boris, has moved against her successor. In a letter to her local paper, May stabbed Boris not in his back but very much in the front: “When the report’s findings are published if there is evidence of deliberate or premeditated wrongdoing, I expect full accountability to follow.

“All those working at the heart of Government should conduct themselves with the highest of standards which befits the work they do, and this applies as much to those working in Number 10 as to other parts of government.

“I have said previously that it is vital that those who set the rules, follow the rules. Nobody is above the law.”

Boris has insisted he has done nothing wrong and that he will not resign despite calls for him to do not only from the Opposition parties but from a number of disaffected Tories as well. Other Tory MPs have said they will only make up their minds after reading what Gray has to say.

She is the senior civil servant who holds the position of second permanent secretary in the cabinet office.

She referred parts of what she found to Scotland Yard, which initially said she could go ahead and publish her full report.

On Thursday evening Suella Braverman, the Indian- origin attorney-general, was photographed going into Downing Street. It is possible she dropped in on Boris to discuss the latest twist in “Partygate”.

Cressida Dick, the Scotland Yard commissioner, who many think should be replaced because of her alleged incompetence by the Met’s head of counter terrorism Neil Basu, was given a surprise two-year extension last year by the home secretary Priti Patel. Some will no doubt suggest she feels under obligation to the current government.

On Friday Scotland Yard dropped what the Daily Telegraph called a “bombshell” with a statement which it said explains why there has
been a delay in the Gray report, which was expected on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

As to what the statement implies, the Daily Telegraph said: “The revelation means that some of the more controversial, and potentially more serious, elements will not be revealed by the civil servant’s report, potentially further delaying any decisions made by MPs over the future of the Prime Minister.

“Friday came the bombshell. Gray’s inquiry can be published but without any mention of any events that police are investigating. In other words, if an event did not break the rules, the Met is happy for the public to read about it.”

The Mail talked of a “stitch up”, while Nick Eardley, a BBC political correspondent, commented that “the police statement appears to have thrown the process into chaos”.