Shropshire Star

County MP demands minutes of Sue Gray meeting

A Shropshire MP said she would "use every available route" to force the Prime Minister to reveal details of his meeting with Sue Gray amidst claims he tried to persuade the civil servant to drop her report into alleged parties at Downing Street.

Published
Sue Gray

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said people in the county would also have been furious to see pictures of Boris Johnson apparently holding a glass of wine as he addressed colleagues during an event held at Downing Street during lockdown.

ITV news released pictures on Monday night of the Prime Minister with eight other people close to a table with open wine bottles on it.

Mrs Morgan said: "Not only did the Prime Minister party in Number 10 while the rest of us were making sacrifices, he lied to Parliament and the British public about it," she said.

“Johnson’s behaviour already warranted being sacked and now we learn he apparently put pressure on Sue Gray to scrap her report.

“The British public needs transparency now. If the Prime Minister won’t release the minutes of his meeting with Sue Gray, Liberal Democrats will use every route available in Parliament to force him to.”

But Mark Pritchard, Conservative MP for The Wrekin, said while Mr Johnson had made mistakes – for which he had rightly apologised – opposition parties were motivated by their desire to bring down the Government.

"Most local people are disappointed by the mistakes that were made by the PM, but most also recognise the Prime Minister's world-leading response to Covid, standing up to Putin's butchery and the Government wanting to help people with the rise in the cost of living," he said.

"The economy has to be the top priority."

Daniel Kawczynski, Tory MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said he was looking forward to reading Miss Gray's report, which could be released today.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Sue Gray has been picked for this job because she has a reputation second to none in the civil service, she is her own woman who will not pull any punches and will go about her business in an unfettered way, no matter who she is investigating," he said.

"Now the police investigation is concluded I look forward to reading her report and what she has to say."

Ludlow Conservative MP Philip Dunne, and Craig Williams who represents Montgomeryshire, said they would wait to see the Gray report before commenting further.

Telford MP Lucy Allan was approached for comment.