GBP/USD Price, Chart, and Analysis
- Redacted report due to Metropolitan Police investigation.
- Boris Johnson escapes full censure for now.
The political pressure on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely to ease in the short-term after civil servant Sue Gray presented the PM with the latest update of her investigation. The report is a censored version of Ms. Gray’s findings which cannot be published in full due to an ongoing Metropolitan Police inquiry that has asked for only ‘minimal reference’ to be made into incidents that they are investigating.
‘As a result of the Metropolitan Police’s investigations, and so as not to prejudice the police investigative process, they have told me that it would only be appropriate to make minimal reference to the gatherings on the dates they are investigating. Unfortunately, this necessarily means that I am extremely limited in what I can say about those events and it is not possible at present to provide a meaningful report setting out and analysing the extensive factual information I have been able to gather.’
The report concludes: ‘The gatherings within the scope of this investigation are spread over a 20-month period – a period that has been unique in recent times in terms of the complexity and breadth of the demands on public servants and indeed the general public. The whole of the country rose to the challenge. Ministers, special advisers and the Civil Service, of which I am proud to be a part, were a key and dedicated part of that national effort. However, as I have noted, a number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did. There is significant learning to be drawn from these events which must be addressed immediately across Government. This does not need to wait for the police investigations to be concluded.’
*** UPDATE ***
Some of the other general findings from the report include:
‘Against the backdrop of the pandemic, when the Government was asking citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify.’
‘At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time.’
‘The excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time. Steps must be taken to ensure that every Government Department has a clear and robust policy in place covering the consumption of alcohol in the workplace.’
‘Some staff wanted to raise concerns about behaviours they witnessed at work but at times felt unable to do so. No member of staff should feel unable to report or challenge poor conduct where they witness it.’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address the House of Commons about the report’s findings at 15:30 GMT.
Ms. Gray was looking into alleged gatherings in No.10 and the Department of Education that broke UK Government guidance on social gatherings. If the full report finds that PM Boris Johnson attended or knew about these gatherings, breaking his own Government’s rules, then it is likely that the Prime Minister would be forced to resign.
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Sterling is little changed after the report was released and is mildly firmer against the US dollar in trade today.
GBP/USD Daily Price Chart – January 31, 2022
Retail trader data 60.31% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.52 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 3.90% higher than yesterday and 11.26% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 6.74% higher than yesterday and 31.66% lower from last week.
We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests GBP/USD prices may continue to fall. Positioning is less net-long than yesterday but more net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed GBP/USD trading bias.
| Change in | Longs | Shorts | OI |
| Daily | -3% | -9% | -5% |
| Weekly | 6% | -10% | 0% |
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