When Boris Johnson received Sue Gray’s final report on the party scandal, the paper was still warm from the printer. It was Wednesday morning and the prime minister was in his office with Steve Barkley, his chief of staff, and Guto Harry, his communications director. Samantha Jones, the Permanent Secretary at number 10, hurried to send the report, the pages still free.
They were waiting for the document at 8 in the morning. It was 10 a.m. and they had only one hour to prepare Johnson’s statement to the City Council and pass it on to Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the President, and Sir Keira Starmer, the opposition leader. Johnson and Barkley began reading as Harry flipped through to read the conclusions. Then the silence was broken
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