I notice that there is an increasing attempt by Tory politicians to shift the blame for what has been happening in 10, Downing Street onto ‘the Civil Service’, a very useful target for blame because it is anonymous and because tories anyway tend to dislike the civil service as being full of EU-supporting pinkoes. But from what I read, it was not necessarily (it may have been, but is not yet proven) the army of career civil servants in the Cabinet Office who introduced a drinking culture but a) the Prime Minister who certainly tolerated, if not encouraged and participated in it, and is ultimately responsible – it was under his rule b) the army of special advisors who were brought in by Dominic Cummings as laddish rule-busters (wasn’t Cummings himself spotted wandering the House of Commons blind drunk ?) c) the press office who were recruited from the tabloids and hosted the parties. This may be a needless distinction, but I hope that Sue Gray, a career civil servant, will investigate it.