Simon Case refuses to resign after Sue Gray report hits out at Downing Street leadership

Britain’s top civil servant was clinging to his job on Wednesday night after being blamed in Sue Gray’s partygate report for overseeing a culture of rule-breaking in Number 10.

Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, has refused to resign after the Whitehall enforcer tore into the Downing Street leadership for organising and attending boozy gatherings.

Boris Johnson has decided to stand by his most senior official, who informed him before the Gray report was published that would not quit and would have to be pushed.

Officials had reportedly drawn up a resignation letter for him in advance which praised his leadership role during the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine. A government source told The Telegraph that no such document had been prepared.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr Case wrote to staff saying lessons had been learnt from partygate and they “must remain fully focused on serving the Government”.

The letter, seen as a call to move on from the scandal, went down badly with some officials, who criticised it as tone-deaf and a “disgrace”.

It came after Ms Gray appeared to suggest that junior staff within Downing Street, who bore the brunt of police partygate fines, had been hung out to dry by their bosses.

She said that “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture” of rule-breaking in Number 10.

“It is important to acknowledge those in most junior positions attended gatherings at which their seniors were present, or indeed organised”, she wrote.

“It is also the case that some of the more junior civil servants believed that their involvement in some of these events was permitted given the attendance of senior leaders.”

There was also disbelief that Mr Case managed to avoid a fine for attending Mr Johnson’s birthday party while the Prime Minister and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, did not.

The Cabinet Secretary, who at the time was Mr Johnson’s permanent secretary focusing on the pandemic response, was copied into emails about the organisation of the June 2020 gathering and is in photos of it.

Mr Sunak received a fixed penalty notice for attending even though, as the report noted, he was not even aware it was happening and only attended “briefly”.

On another occasion in December 2020, when an office Christmas quiz was held, Mr Case “was offered and took a beer” after stopping for a chat with his team, the report revealed.