A limited version of a report into lockdown-breaching parties held in UK government buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic has criticised a “serious failure” to observe the high standards expected of those working at the heart of government. The report was commissioned by Prime Minister Boris Johnson following a series of damaging allegations of Christmas and leaving parties and other gatherings held in his official residence at Number 10 Downing Street and other government departments in Whitehall at the height of the pandemic, in violation of lockdown rules written by the government itself. The report, written by senior civil servant Sue Gray and published on Monday, said, “A number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did.” The report criticised “failures of leadership and judgment” by parts of Number 10 and the Cabinet Office. It said: “Against the backdrop …