Workington MP Mark Jenkinson has appeared on national radio to support Boris Johnson in the wake of the Sue Gray report.
Mr Jenkinson was speaking to the Today programme on Radio 4 just after a Conservative Parliamentary Group meeting with Mr Johnson, where MPs appeared to rally round the Prime Minister.
Presenter Nick Robinson described Mr Jenkinson as a ‘loyal red waller’ and said the MP believed he was in Parliament because of one man – Boris Johnson.
Mr Jenkinson described the meeting as very upbeat.
Mr Jenkinson told the presenter: “If I took the PM to a high street in Workington tomorrow, he would draw crowds. He would still be box office.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on doorsteps over the last couple of weeks and people are fed up of not concentrating on the big issues set to impact them in their pockets over the next few months.”
Civil servant Sue Gray’s redacted findings were published yesterday afternoon, with the full report expected to be released once the Met Police complete their own investigations into 12 parties during coronavirus restrictions.
The report found:
- Given the backdrop of the pandemic “some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify”;
- “At least some of the gatherings” “represent a serious failure” to observe “high standards” expected in Government;
- “Too little thought was given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings”;
- “Excessive consumption of alcohol” in a professional workplace is “not appropriate”. Every govenment department should have a “clear and robust policy in place covering the consumption of alcohol in the workplace”;
- The Number 10 garden was used “sensibly” as an extension of the workplace but “was also used for gatherings without clear authorisation or oversight”;
- Staff “wanted to” but “felt unable to raise concerns”;
- Staff working in No 10 has steadily increased in recent years and the structures that support the smooth operation of Downing Street “haven’t evolved sufficiently to meet demands of this expansion” he leadership structures “fragmented and complicated” leading to blurred “accountability”
