Sue Gray's report into allegations of parties at Downing Street during lockdown will not be published in full, the Education Secretary has suggested.
Ms Gray, the Second Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, has been tasked with investigating a number of accusations and is expected to come back with her conclusions this week.
But Nadhim Zahawi emphasised that the terms of reference of her investigation mean her "findings" must be placed into the public domain, rather than necessarily a full report.
"That is the terms of reference [and] that will ensure that her findings are made public," he told Radio 4's Today programme. "That will ensure public confidence. This is exactly what she should be doing.
"She can follow the evidence wherever it takes her... The findings will be made public and the Prime Minister will submit himself to Parliament and make a statement and be scrutinised on those findings."
The conclusions could make or break Boris Johnson's premiership after the Prime Minister apologised to MPs for attending a gathering in the Downing Street garden on May 20, 2020, but continues to claim he thought it was a "work event".
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Tory voters will "evaporate" unless the National Insurance increase is scrapped, former Cabinet minister David Davis has warned.
He joins a chorus of prominent ministers calling for the hike scheduled for April to be called off amid concerns about how it will impact the price of living crisis.
Mr Davis told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "One of the things that came up on every doorstep I went to in all the swing all the northern seats around me was - 'Jeremy Corbyn going to put taxes up, therefore, I'm going to vote for you'.
"And what are we going to do? Put taxes up. What do you think's going to happen? Those votes, they're going to evaporate.
"So for our own political interest, but more importantly for the national interest - we should keep taxes down."
Boris Johnson has ordered a Cabinet Office investigation into Nusrat Ghani's Islamophobia claims.
Ms Ghani yesterday accused the Prime Minister of failing to take the matter “seriously” when she directly reported it to him shortly after she lost her job as a transport minister in a reshuffle in February 2020.
She claimed that she was told after being sacked in 2020 that her “Muslim woman minister status was making colleagues feel uncomfortable” and “that I wasn’t loyal to the party as I didn’t do enough to defend the party against Islamophobia allegations”.
Mark Spencer outed himself as the whip referenced in the allegations and denied the claims on Saturday night, labelling them “completely false” and defamatory.
Ms Ghani welcomed the investigation in a tweet of her own this morning, and wrote: "As I said to the Prime Minister last night all I want is for this to be taken seriously and for him to investigate."
Labour has been accused of plotting “eye-watering” tax rises on middle and high earners, writes Gordon Rayner, as analysis shows the party has made more than ￡90 billion of spending promises.
Pledges made by Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, would amount to an extra ￡2,138 per household if all of them were paid for through general taxation.
This, despite Ms Reeves describing the Conservatives as “the party of high taxation” when she set out her economic policy in a speech earlier this week.
She has made it clear that Labour would impose a raft of new wealth taxes if the party won an election, targeting property, shares, capital gains, higher earnings and private schools.
Ruth Kelly, the former education secretary and Treasury economic secretary under Sir Tony Blair, urged Sir Keir leader to reduce the size of the state to save money and devolve more powers locally including giving councils the ability to raise business taxes.
？Ruth Kelly: Every pound must be allocated with purpose
The "findings" of Sue Gray's report will be published rather than a full document, Nadhim Zahawi suggested on the Today programme.
Ms Gray, the Second Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office who has a decorated reputation in Whitehall, is widely expected to release her findings this week.
But as Mr Zahawi made clear, the "terms of reference" for her report mean that "the findings of her report will be made public".
Questioned on whether it would be the right thing to do to publish the full report, Mr Zahawi doubled down: "That is the terms of reference. That is the right thing, I think, that will ensure that her findings are made public. That will ensure public confidence. This is exactly what she should be doing.
"She can follow the evidence wherever it takes her. I've said this on your programme many times and she's doing exactly that. It's thorough and complete and the findings will be made public and the Prime Minister will submit himself to Parliament and make a statement and be scrutinised on those findings."
The UK has begun withdrawing its staff from the Ukrainian embassy in Kyiv amid the rising tensions between the country and Russia, reports Gareth Davies, our Breaking News Editor.
Sources at the Foreign Office told the BBC the move was not the result of any specific intelligence targeting British diplomats, but a response to the growing risk of a Russian incursion and the potential risk to UK officials in the Ukraine.
Tensions in Ukraine have been increasing for months after the Kremlin massed some 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders, a dramatic buildup the West says is preparation for a war to prevent Ukraine from ever joining the NATO security alliance.
Growing risk of incursion prompts embassy withdrawal
Police officers who guard Downing Street have been interviewed by Sue Gray for the “partygate” investigation, Martin Evans and Lucy Fisher report.
Members of the Metropolitan Police’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command who were on duty when a string of lockdown-breaking gatherings are alleged to have taken place have provided detailed testimonies about what they witnessed.
The statements, described by one source as “extremely damning”, are expected to form a key part of Ms Gray’s report, which is due to be published within days.
The senior civil servant has also spoken to the Prime Minister, civil servants and political advisers, and accessed security pass logs and even Boris Johnson’s official diary.
Asked how significant the material they had disclosed was, one source said: “Put it this way, if Boris Johnson is still Prime Minister by the end of the week, I’d be very surprised.”
Sue Gray latest: Dominic Cummings 'will give evidence today'
For all the drama the House of Commons has brought us in recent weeks, the sight of David Davis telling Boris Johnson "in the name of God, go!" in an unexpected intervention at Prime Minister's Questions was possibly the most jaw-dropping.
But the former Brexit minister appears to have rowed back on his comments this morning, as he indicated on the Today programme he would wait for the Sue Gray report before making up his mind on the future of the Prime Minister.
"I like Boris, I've known him for 30 years but the truth is we're now into an issue of trust," he said. "I don't think any of the proposed people [to replace him as Prime Minister] I've seen in the papers have a trust issue.
"I think its pretty likely I would want him to go, but I will wait for those few days. "At the moment he has a legacy of having delivered Brexit and having brought us through the pandemic.
"As we carry on as we may do, month in, month out, it will do huge damage to the Conservative Party."
Nadhim Zahawi clarified that the "TL" badge he wore during his Sky interview this morning stands for "T-Levels" after Kay Burley quipped it was short for "Tory leader".
"I'm going to make them as famous as A-Levels," he said.
"They're technical, they're a fusion between an apprenticeship and an A-Level. And actually they're a fantastic thing, which you're going to hear much more about from me."
In a post on social media in the last few minutes, Ms Ghani has said:
The Education Secretary urged William Wragg and other Tory MPs to come forward with proof of their claims against the party whips.
Nadhim Zahawi recalled that his experiences during 11 years as a backbencher did not "at all" resemble the allegations made by Mr Wragg and Christian Wakeford, who last week crossed the floor to join the Labour Party.
"I think they have a responsibility to put their evidence forward. All I can say from my experience is I haven't experienced any of that. I've rebelled before and it hasn't impacted anything to do with my constituency or due process."
He denied that as Education Secretary he would have the power to deny an MP the funding for a school in their constituency, as claimed by Mr Wakeford about Gavin Williamson, Mr Zahawi's predecessor, in the Sunday Times this weekend.
Nadhim Zahawi has never experienced any form of racism "institutional or otherwise" in four decades as a member of the Conservatives, he said this morning.
He was responding to criticisms by Baroness Warsi, a former party chairman who claimed the Singh report into Islamophobia showed the Conservative Party was "institutionally racist" - despite the findings having said otherwise.
"With all respect to Baroness Warsi or anyone else, I've been a member of the party since the late eighties.
"I've risen through the party, I've been a local councillor for three terms, I've been a volunteer in the voluntary party, I've been a Member of Parliament. I have not actually experienced any form of racism, institutional or otherwise.
"My view is of course we can always do better which is why we had the inquiry, which is why we are overhauling our process. There is no place, as I said in my tweet over the weekend, for racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism in our politics, in our party.
"In a case where a valued colleague comes forward and says I've heard this or there's issues I want aired and dealt with, it's only right in the meantime. I work very closely with Mark [Spencer] - he's categorically denied this and said it's defamatory. One of our values is fairness and people have a fair hearing and I'm not going to impugn the reputation of either colleague."
Boris Johnson offered Nusrat Ghani an investigation two years ago, Nadhim Zahawi insisted this morning as he defended the Prime Minister's personal record.
"These are really painful allegations for anyone of Nus's background to make," he told Sky. "I think it's important she gets to put her evidence forward.
"I think the right thing to do is allow the Cabinet Office to investigate."
Challenged on Boris Johnson's "bank robbers and letterboxes" comments, Mr Zahawi said: "He's also the Prime Minister who has promoted Nadhim Zahawi to Secretary of State for Education, Sajid Javid to Health Secretary, Priti Patel, Rishi Sunak, Kwasi Kwarteng...
"I'm not saying anything other than the important thing to remember is that this is a Prime Minister who in my view doesn't look at your background, your religion or anything else. He looks at your ability and whether you're capable of doing a job.
"At the same time this is a Prime Minister who actually asked Professor Singh to conduct an inquiry into Islamophobia. The inquiry came back with some recommendations and the party is overhauling itself."
Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, has said he would "not impugn" either of his Conservative colleagues amid Nusrat Ghani's claims against Mark Spencer.
"Nus is a valued colleague, I've known her for a very long time," Mr Zahawi told Sky News. "She's worked incredibly hard both as an MP and a minister.
"She's made a very serious allegation, the Prime Minister spoke to her last night and said that the Cabinet Office will look at this and look at the detail of this. She put out a statement last night saying actually this could be, to be fair, people who aren't even members of the Conservative Party.
"Which is why we have to get to the bottom of this very quickly and of course the Chief Whip has come out and named himself as the individual. I work with both colleagues and I think it's important that someone like a Cabinet Office senior civil servant should look at this properly because the Chief Whip has categorically denied this."
Asked if he believed Mr Spencer's denial, Mr Zahawi said: "I'm not going to impune either colleague. We're one team, we work well together as a team and that's what the nation expects."
Boris Johnson has ordered a Cabinet Office investigation into Nusrat Ghani's Islamophobia claims, it has emerged in the last few minutes.
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