There is confusion over when Sue Gray’s report into No 10 lockdown parties will be published after a statement from the police on their investigation.
The Met said on Friday it had asked for “minimal reference” in the report to events they are investigating to avoid prejudicing its inquiries.
Many in the Cabinet Office, where Ms Gray is based, were taken by surprise by the Met’s statement, sources say.
The report was due to be sent to Downing Street this week.
Boris Johnson’s premiership is potentially at stake, as Conservative MPs wait to see the outcome of Ms Gray’s inquiry before deciding to call for a vote of no confidence in him.
In a statement on Friday morning, the Met said: “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.”
It is unclear what the police investigation means for the timing of the report, how much detail will be included or whether it will now be published at all.
The BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg said the situation with the Met was “extremely messy”, but, she added: “I’m told by several sources it’s not the only factor holding all of this up, there is a lot of wrangling inside government and Cabinet Office over how and what is published”.
Met Commissioner Cressida Dick announced on Tuesday the force had launched its own inquiry, after being handed information by Ms Gray.
It has not specified how many of the gatherings covered in Ms Gray’s inquiry it has decided to investigate.
There have been media reports of 17 gatherings in government buildings while Covid restrictions were in place.
Mr Johnson’s spokesman has said the PM did not believe he had broken Covid laws.
We had expected the Sue Gray report to be published earlier this week.
The Met announcing its own investigation threw a spanner in the works, which is still being dealt with.
For the past few days, we’ve known Ms Gray was talking to the Met and government lawyers about what could and couldn’t be published.
Ms Gray wanted to send a copy of the report to No 10 which could be published in full. That was the intention this morning.
But the police statement appears to have thrown the process into chaos. Many in the cabinet office did not know it was coming – and are working out the implications.
Mr Johnson has insisted Ms Gray’s report would be published “in full” – although he did not say when it was expected to be published.
On Friday, Labour leader Sir 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”.
‘Circus’
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the situation was getting “murkier by the minute”, and the rapid conclusion and full publication of inquiries was “now essential for public trust”.
“Sue Gray and the Met are in difficult positions, but the sequence of events and the situation arrived at now creates the suspicion – however unfairly – that the process of inquiry is aiding Johnson at the expense of public accountability,” she added.
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a campaign group, said that Ms Gray’s inquiry “has turned into a circus”.
Fran Hall, a spokesperson for the group, added that the Met’s initial decision not to investigate, followed by its latest statement, had “broken the trust of the public”.
Downing Street said it would publish the report it receives from Ms Gray’s team, and it had not had any input into the Met’s latest statement.
The PM’s spokesman told reporters on Friday that No 10 “haven’t been privy to the details” of Ms Gray’s inquiry, or “any of its content”.
Analysis
By Daniel Sandford, Home Affairs correspondent
The row over the Sue Gray report is a reminder that the police are bad at politics, and that people in politics and Whitehall do not understand the police.
Senior officers in the Metropolitan Police have been in touch with Ms Gray throughout her inquiry, so it should have come as no surprise that once they began their formal investigation there was going to be some limit on what could be published.
It is not clear what the problem is, but officers are likely to be keen that nothing in Ms Gray’s report – however much of a summary it is – should give a definitive account of what happened at any alleged parties before the detectives conclude their investigation, and decide who should be fined.
For months, the Met has been accused of being reluctant to get involved in policing how people behaved in Downing Street during lockdown, now it is becoming clear why that might have been.
Some Conservative MPs have demanded Mr Johnson resign, after weeks of reports of allegedly rule-breaking events in No 10 during lockdown.
But many others say they are waiting for the Gray report before deciding whether to submit letters of no confidence in him.
At least 54 Tory MPs must write to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, to set up a vote on the prime minister’s future.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that former PM Theresa May told constituents she was “angry to hear stories of those in No 10, who are responsible for setting the coronavirus rules, not properly following the rules.”
In a letter sent before the Met announced its investigation earlier this week, published by The Maidenhead Advertiser, she wrote she expected ” full accountability to follow” if Ms Gray’s inquiry uncovered “evidence of deliberate or premeditated wrongdoing”.
