Investigation unlikely to identify ‘chatty rat’ behind No10 Covid leaks, top civil servant says

The UK’s most senior civil servant has said an investigation into the “chatty rat” who leaked details of the government’s lockdown plans is unlikely to find the culprit as he denied that Boris Johnson wanted to cancel the probe.

In a bombshell allegation last week, the prime minister’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings accused the prime minister of wanting to call off the hunt when it emerged it might identify a friend of his partner Carrie Symonds.

“The prime minister has always been clear that we are very determined to see these inquiries completed,” Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, told MPs on the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC).

Mr Case also repeatedly declined today to confirm Mr Cummings’ claim that he had been cleared, telling MPs: “I am constrained in what I can say, because it is in the context of an ongoing investigation.”

As Downing Street continues to battle the fallout from Mr Cummings explosive allegations, Mr Case also told MPs that the prime minister had asked him to review how a recent refurbishment of the Downing Street flat was funded.

The decision to order another Covid lockdown last autumn proved extremely controversial, not least when it was leaked ahead of an official announcement.

Mr Johnson was today forced to deny he told colleagues he would rather see bodies ‘pile high’ rather than order another shutdown of the UK economy.

Mr Case said the Speaker of the House of Commons had been updated on the progress of the probe into the ‘chatty rat’ and that its findings would be made public.

But he said that after such a long period of time it was now unlikely a culprit would be identified.

“I think it is probable that the team will not successfully identify the source”.

Despite that, the leak inquiry should be finished within “weeks”. “I hope weeks rather than months,” he told the committee.

He refused to say whether or not the security services were involved in the investigation.

But he said that the leak was not being treated as a matter for the police.

A “gateway” meeting involving No 10, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service “concluded that this leak didn’t meet the threshold for an offence under the Official Secrets Act or the offence of misconduct in public office”, said Mr Case.

Even if a leak did not amount to a criminal offence, that did not mean that no national security issues were involved, he said.

Mr Case also told the committee that no investigation had been launched into claims that the prime minister had said he was willing to see “bodies piling up” rather than have another lockdown.

“That’s something I will have to take away, look into and discuss with the prime minister whether it is something we need to conduct an investigation into,” he said.

Mr Case came under pressure from a number of MPs on the panel over the delay in concluding the “chatty rat” inquiry after more than five months.

Labour’s John McDonnell said: “It is five months on. That hardly demonstrates prioritisation of what should be, to you and others, a serious matter. And at the same time as the inquiry drags on, No 10 spokespeople are able to issue statements trashing the name of others.”

Mr Case said there was “frustration” in government at the pace of the inquiry, but added: “These investigations are complex. There are usually many threads to them and a range of people to interview.

“These are professionals and they move as fast as they can.”

He also predicted that an announcement would be made soon on a successor to Sir Alex Allan , the prime minister’s adviser on standards, who resigned in the wake of the Priti Patel inquiry into allegations of bullying.

The role of independent adviser could be updated, including to allow the title holder to order their own investigations, he added. A number of MPs struggled to hide their frustration at Mr Case’s evidence to the committee.

Mr McDonnell compared the session to a “badly scripted version of Yes, Minister”.