Joe Lycett claims his fake Sue Gray report had politicians ‘panicking’ as he admits he pulled stunt out of anger at MPs

Joe Lycett trolled the Government with his fake Sue Gray report, which he admitted he wrote ‘because I am angry’ (Picture: Rob Parfitt/Channel 4)

Joe Lycett had us all on when he shared a fake document seeming to be the much-anticipated Sue Gray report, but he also managed to freak out members of the Conservative Party who thought it was a leak.

The comedian and TV presenter shared a fake version of the senior civil servant’s inquiry into claims of Covid lockdown-breaking parties in Number 10 and across Whitehall in 2020, including an alleged birthday gathering for Boris Johnson.

And now it turns out members of the Government were running amok and ‘panicking from what it said’.

Joe, 33, has also since come clean about why he pulled the prank, writing in an emotional open letter that it is simply because he is angry at the Government.

The TV favourite had originally tweeted the faux document, writing: ‘BREAKING: Leaked Sue Gray report reveals shocking abuse of the rules. Hard to see how the PM can cling on after this.’

The fake findings noted a ‘culture of Covid-19 regulation breaking at Number 10 Downing Street’ and that ‘games were played that were known as “slow dance” and “pass the a**ehole”.’

The jokes continued with a reference to WhatsApp groups being made to ‘organise gatherings’ and that the chats were called ‘definitely a meeting’ and ‘down it street’.

According to Joe’s report, Hear’Say’s Pure and Simple was played at one of the parties, and everyone took ‘twateral flow’ tests.

There was also a reference to the email address ItsAllSueGravyBaby@aol.com at the end of the letter – seems legit, right?

While upon close inspection it was clear that it was not, in fact, Ms Gray’s report, it turns out some members of the Cabinet believed it to be a leak.

(Credits: Lucy Mapstone)

After his initial post, the Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back star followed it up with a grab of text messages that he claimed were ‘from someone who works for a cabinet minister’.

The messages read: ‘I work in Parliament for the Conservatives and I think you need to kno… Your tweet this morning was read as an actual serious leak from Sue Gray’s report.’

The messages went on: ‘U had MP staff literally running around panicking from what it said. Panic dialling MPs like we need to discuss this right now.’

‘[People were saying] “I can’t believe she used the phrase ‘down it street’.”

The messages from the anonymous person concluded with a bunch of crying laughing emoji, and the praising comment: ‘Absolutely legendary work, well done.’

The comedian later took to Twitter to address the popularity of his prank, writing: ‘I write comedy sometimes as a way of using anger.’

He went on to say that changing his name to Hugo Boss (a stunt he pulled in 2020 in a bid to get the fashion brand to ease off a small brewery with a similar name) or faking the Sue Gray report is ‘all essentially because I’m angry.

‘I’m angry right now for probably the same reason many other people are angry.’

He revealed that, in the early stages of lockdown 2020, when the Government was reported to have broken several lockdown rules with alleged parties, his best friend died of cancer, and that he was unable to be there due to Covid restrictions, and so felt compelled to take action of some sort.

‘He had been ill for a number of years and towards the end | had helped as a part-time carer. I watched him slip away, gradually, over months, and all that comes with it.

‘It’s a long story for another time. But he died, at the start of lockdown, and I wasn’t there because I was following the rules, and we had a tiny insufficient funeral, because we were following the rules, and I drove his kids away from that funeral back to Birmingham without any sort of wake, because we were following the rules, and it felt unnatural and cruel and almost silly, but we did it because we followed the rules.

‘So I suppose like thousands of others with their own stories, I’m angry about that.’

Boris Johnson is anxiously awaiting Sue Gray’s report over alleged lockdown breaches in Government (Picture: Reuters)

He went on to say that he is ‘not a political comic particularly and rarely if ever make outwardly political statements.’

Sharing his feelings about the Tories, he claimed ‘this lot’ are more into ‘power and little else’ rather than ‘conserving’ historical institutions and traditions among other things.

‘To hell with my dead friend, they think, and all your dead friends and dead relatives. You followed the rules and we didn’t but we’re in power and that’s all that matters so spin on it.’

Mr Johnson continues to anxiously await Ms Gray’s report, which has the potential to trigger a vote of no confidence in his leadership by Tory MPs angered over alleged breaches.

The official inquiry has been long-awaited but its publication was thrown into disarray on Tuesday when Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, who had long resisted calls to investigate, announced that her officers had opened a criminal investigation.

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