Link to Report

Ministerial Statement on the Publication of the McGrail Inquiry Report

His Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar has today published the Report of the Inquiry chaired by Sir Peter Openshaw DL into the circumstances surrounding the early retirement of former Commissioner of the Royal Gibraltar Police, Ian McGrail.  The Report is published in full and without any redactions.

His Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar welcomes the findings of the Inquiry.

This Report represents the conclusion of the most detailed exercise in transparency and accountability in Gibraltar’s history with all hearings transmitted live on the national broadcaster, GBC and all documents available on the Inquiry website.

While the cost of this Inquiry—exceeding £8 million—could certainly have been better invested in our public services, once Mr. McGrail called for an Inquiry, the Government had no choice but to proceed. It was essential to finally put to bed the scandalous and unfounded accusations he was making, which were causing significant reputational damage to Gibraltar.

• Report concludes Governor acted properly and with FCDO support

The Inquiry has categorically found that Mr. McGrail’s departure was actually the result of the Interim Governor, Nick Pyle, moving to exercise his powers under Section 13 of the Police Act to call for Mr McGrail’s resignation. The Report confirms that Mr. Pyle’s decision was "entirely his own" and that he was "not manipulated" by the Chief Minister, as alleged by Mr McGrail and was a central part of his case against the Chief Minister.

Furthermore, the Inquiry highlights that Mr. Pyle acted with the full knowledge and advice of the UK Foreign Office. He provided "frequent, detailed and accurate reports... to the FCDO". The Report also notes that the FCDO legal advisers confirmed he had "justifiable grounds" to exercise his powers.

• McGrail’s Failings and Refusal of Redress

The Report confirms that the Interim Governor had legitimate, independent, and serious grounds for losing confidence in Mr. McGrail, specifically regarding his failure to provide to the Governor the "best available information" regarding the location of the fatal collision at sea and the "shockingly bad" HMIC Report while Mr McGrail was Commissioner.

Crucially, the Chairman has explicitly declined to recommend any form of redress, whether by way of apology or compensation for Mr. McGrail.

This refusal helps to underline that Mr. McGrail was not the victim of the improper, corrupt or groundless conspiracy he alleged.

In his Report, Sir Peter Openshaw also finds that Mr McGrail’s actions in humiliating senior armed forces personnel caused Gibraltar great damage in our sacrosanct relationship with the UK and our armed forces.  That is also unforgiveable.

• Chief Minister Exonerated

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, is pleased that the central allegations levied against him, and others senior officers in the Government, have been rejected:

• No Interference: The Inquiry found "no actual interference" with the RGP’s operations or criminal investigations.
• Genuine Belief: The Chairman confirmed Mr. Picardo "genuinely believed" he had been lied to by Mr. McGrail regarding the DPP’s advice – meaning that Mr Picardo’s loss of confidence in Mr McGrail had a sound, subjective, basis.
• No Corruption: The suggestion of a "corrupt conspiracy" was "roundly reject[ed]".
• Nolle Prosequi: There is "no evidence that Mr. Picardo was consulted" on the discontinuance of the prosecution against the then Defendants in the Operation Delhi case

The RGP Leadership

The Report exposes serious failings in disclosure by the former RGP leadership, noting that "it can[not] properly be said that the RGP made the 'comprehensive disclosure' which they claimed".  This means that the whole Inquiry has proceeded and reached its conclusions on that basis of full disclosure by core participants, except for the RGP and Mr McGrail.

The Government is very pleased that the Royal Gibraltar Police now operate under renewed leadership. We are confident that under this new command, the force has turned a page, allowing the whole community to have full confidence in the RGP once again.

Conclusion

The Government accepts the Report's findings and commits to working on all the constructive recommendations made by the Chairman to further strengthen our institutions. The Inquiry has transparently reported on all aspects of this matter, and the Government looks forward to focusing fully on the matters that concern the people of Gibraltar.

Quote from the Chief Minister

The Chief Minister delivered a Ministerial Statement upon publication of the Report.

Mr Picardo said: “His Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar welcomes the findings of the Inquiry.  We will accept the Inquiry’s recommendations in full.  We have already started work to deliver on those changes in coming months. 

Crucially, the Report completely exonerates the Government from the many spurious allegations made against us.  I am also very pleased that the Inquiry Chairman has found that I genuinely believed the then Commissioner of Police lied to me. My reading of the Report, therefore, is that it vindicates my position on this crucial issue. My loss of confidence in Ian McGrail had a sound, subjective basis.  I have been found to honestly believe that I was lied to, to my face and in my office, by the then Commissioner of Police. This gave rise to my justifiable loss of confidence in Mr McGrail.  The findings are clear and they dismantle the false narrative that Mr McGrail has circulated for five years.  The Report finds that there was no actual interference with the RGP’s investigation by me, by anyone on my behalf or by any officer of the Government and no conspiracy to remove him from office.

Insofar as I am the subject of criticism in the Report about these events, I apologise to the People of Gibraltar if they feel my actions were not up to the standard they expect of me as their Chief Minister.  I am genuinely sorry if they feel I failed.  I always try to give Gibraltar the very best of me.

 If I failed to be at my very best on some of those days, I ask people to forgive those lapses.  In doing so, I would ask they recall that these events did not happen in a vacuum.  These events happened against a backdrop of massive national crisis in respect of COVID and Brexit, both playing out at the same time in those months of 2020.

The Government is required by law to table the Report in Parliament as soon as practicable.  I have today therefore sent a copy of the link to the McGrail Inquiry Report to the Speaker of Parliament and given notice of a ‘Motion to Note’ its publication.

I had previously discussed the Inquiry with Sir Keir Starmer when he was Leader of the Opposition, and for that reason I have also sent him a copy of the Report, together with copies to the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for Europe, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Chair of the All‑Party Parliamentary Group for Gibraltar.  All had expressed an interest in the Inquiry outcome and I have therefore wanted to ensure that they had a copy of the report.

From the outset, I have insisted on full transparency. The people of Gibraltar heard every word of the evidence, they have seen every document, they have read all my WhatsApps and emails and they now have the complete findings before them. This is my final period as Chief Minister, and it was important to me that the record was clear and complete.  Unfortunately, neither the former leadership of the RGP nor Mr McGrail were as forthcoming, and they failed to provide the full disclosure required of them.

Finally, the delays in publication were unavoidable, given both my own, recent, health challenges and the need to await the conclusion of the Deputy Coroner’s Inquest into the deaths at sea that happened in March 2020 during Mr McGrail’s leadership of the RGP.  While the cost of the Inquiry —over £8 million—could undoubtedly have been better invested in our public services, once Mr McGrail demanded an Inquiry and made scandalous and unfounded allegations, which were causing serious reputational harm to Gibraltar, it became essential for our nation to address these openly and definitively as we have done.  All of these have been dismissed in the Chairman’s Report.   

With the Report now published, Gibraltar can finally draw a line under this matter and move forward with confidence in the strength and integrity of our institutions.”

ENDS