‘Partygate’: Whitehall braced for top staff to be implicated in Sue Gray report

Exclusive: civil service source cites concern over possible evidence senior officials knowingly broke rules

Civil service chiefs are braced for the behaviour of top Whitehall officials to be severely criticised in the Sue Gray partygate report, after the government's former ethics chief apologised for attending an illegal gathering.

Amid speculation about whether Boris Johnson will be fined over lockdown parties in No 10, there is also consternation in Whitehall about how to deal with the fallout from senior civil servants being implicated as organisers of gatherings when the full report is finally published.