Boris Johnson could finally get sight of the long-awaited report into alleged lockdown-busting parties Downing Street and Whitehall as early as this weekend.

It is understood the dossier – compiled by senior civil servant Sue Gray – will be sent to No 10 in the coming days, as opposed to in a matter of weeks or months.

But it is not expected to be made public until next week when MPs return to the Commons.

That version will be redacted to comply with a request from Scotland Yard that nothing is published which could jeopardise the police inquiry, it is believed.

It comes after the Metropolitan Police confirmed on Friday evening that it had received the material requested from the Cabinet Office to support its investigation.

The force said officers would now examine this ‘without fear or favour’ to establish whether any rules were broken.

The Met had been criticised by legal experts and Tory MPs for urging Ms Gray to limit the publication of her investigation into allegations of lockdown-breaking parties in No 10.

Nazir Afzal, a former chief Crown prosecutor for the North West, said on Twitter: ‘This is absolute nonsense from the Met Police. A purely factual report by Sue Gray cannot possibly prejudice a police investigation.

‘They just have to follow the evidence, of which the report will be a part.’

Human rights barrister Adam Wagner, who has spent the pandemic interpreting complex coronavirus laws and explaining them to the public on social media, said on Twitter: ‘I am not a criminal lawyer so perhaps I am missing something. How would a factual civil service report about events the police is investigating ‘prejudice’ their investigation?’

But Nick Aldworth, a former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent and counter-terrorism national co-ordinator, said the report could prejudice the police investigation ‘by disclosing the evidence that they will gather and thereby giving the potential defendants an opportunity to conceal or alter evidence’.

The force insisted on Friday evening that it had not delayed publication.

Commander Catherine Roper, who leads the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command, said the timing of the document’s release was a matter for the Cabinet Office.

Ms Roper said the force had asked for ‘minimal reference’ to be made in the report to the ‘relevant events’, in order to ‘protect the integrity of the police investigation’ and be ‘as fair as possible to those who are subject to it’.

She added: ‘This will only be necessary until these matters are concluded, and is to give detectives the most reliable picture of what happened at these events. We intend to complete our investigations promptly, fairly and proportionately.

‘We have not delayed this report and the timing of its release is a matter for the Cabinet Office inquiry team.’

The Cabinet Office did not offer further comment on when the report would be published.

It said Ms Gray’s investigation continues, there is ongoing contact with the police and the findings will be made public.

The department added that it would not speculate further on the inquiry being carried out by the senior official.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for both reports to be published as soon as possible, saying the Government had been ‘paralysed’ by the Gray investigation and subsequent police inquiry.

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