UK Police investigate lockdown parties at Boris Johnson’s office
The UK police chief has announced she will be investigating allegations of parties held in PM Boris Johnson’s office during Covid lockdown.
As the Partygate scandal threatens UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership, he has said he did not break Covid laws but will fully co-operate with a Scotland Yard investigation.
Mr Johnson assured furious MPs that the investigation would “draw a line” under the crisis which has engulfed his leadership.
Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick bowed to pressure to investigate accusations of Downing St parties which are alleged to have broken Covid restrictions, The Sun reports.
The dramatic escalation came just hours after it was reported that the PM held an indoor birthday bash at the height of the first lockdown.
Stream more UK news live & on demand with Flash, Australia’s biggest news streaming service. New to Flash? Try 14 days free now >
Dame Cressida this morning confirmed police will investigate several – though not all – of the reported rule breaches in Downing St and across Whitehall.
“I welcome the Met’s decision to conduct its own investigation because I believe this will help to give the public the clarity it needs and help draw a line under matters,” Mr Johnson told MPs.
“I and the whole Government are focused 100 per cent on dealing with the people’s priorities including the UK’s leading role in protecting freedom around the world.”
MPs to ‘co-operate fully’ with probe
Downing Street confirmed that staff, including the PM, will co-operate in the investigation.
Asked if Mr Johnson was willing to be interviewed by police, his spokesman said: “Anyone asked to will co-operate fully, as you would expect.”
Pressed if the PM believes he has broken the law, the spokesman said: “I need to be cautious about what I say, but I think that’s fair to say that he does not.”
It is extremely rare for a serving prime minister to be involved in potentially criminal probes in this way.
Tony Blair was interviewed three times as a witness and vowed to resign if he was ever questioned by police under caution.
Downing St is now on red alert for the Tory mutiny to reach the 54 letters of no confidence required to trigger a vote of no confidence.
‘We police impartially’
When challenged about why police have not investigated so far, Dame Cressida said: “We police without fear or favour.
“We police impartially, we police in an operationally independent manner.
“In general we have not normally investigated breaches of the regulations when they have been reported long after they are said have been taken place.
“It would not normally be a proportionate use of time investigating after the fact.”
She said they would do that only if it was “serious and flagrant type of breach” with significant evidence, and when those involved “knew or ought to have known that what they were doing was an offence”.
They also only probe when not investigating would have undermined the law, and there was little evidence of a clear defence, she said.
It means fixed penalty notices could be given to those who were found to have breached the rules.
Police said today that the Cabinet Office had “provided outline findings from its inquiry to the [Metropolitan Police]” and after “detailed assessments” the Met had decided to open investigations.
“Where multiple events occurred on a particular date at a location, all the events on that date will initially fall within the remit of the investigation so that the full circumstances can be established. This does not mean that everyone who attended an event will be investigated,” the Met said in a statement.
“[The Met] has written to the Cabinet Office this morning with a formal request for it to refer all relevant information gathered from its inquiry in relation to events on the dates in question to support the police investigations.”
Cabinet support
Ministers gathered inside Downing Street were blindsided by the probe, despite Number 10 learning of the development in advance.
Some were reportedly furious they were not warned, and sent out into the full glare of the cameras.
Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg rushed to defend the PM, insisting under his leadership the government was going “from strength to strength”.
“I am pleased that @metpoliceuk are now involved along with Sue Gray of the Cabinet Office investigating so-called “Partygate,” Michael Fabricant, a longtime ally of the PM, said.
“Rather better to have a professional investigation than trial by social and mainstream media.”
But former minister Tobias Ellwood told Sky News: “I think my confidence [in the PM] is slipping away.
“It’s all about short-term survival propping up the Prime Minister rather than long-term reform, and I’m afraid we’re going to end up heading towards a very dark chapter, unless things change very soon.”
The Labour Party came out to ask the Met why it took so long to investigate in the first place.
Deputy leader Ms Rayner said: “It seems potential criminality has been found in Downing Street.
“What a truly damning reflection on our nation’s very highest office.”
Last night the PM became engulfed in a fresh scandal after admitting to an indoor birthday celebration in the first lockdown.
The Prime Minister turned 56 on June 19, 2020, with Downing St confirming staff gathered to wish him well in the Cabinet Room when indoor social mixing was banned.
It is claimed his then fiancée Carrie Symonds surprised the PM with a cake and led a chorus of Happy Birthday with at least 30 staff members.
A Downing Street insider last night said: “This was a few people who were in the office saying happy birthday; it was not a party.”
ITV News said wellwishers included the interior designer Lulu Lytle, who was at the time in charge of the controversial six-figure revamp of the PM’s flat.
But Downing St insisted that the PM was there for “less than 10 minutes” after staff had “gathered briefly” after a meeting.
Media and Sport Minister Nadine Dorries said: “So, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for 10 minutes to sing Happy Birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party?”
Several other gatherings are alleged to have taken place in Downing St over the past two years – including a leaving celebration on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral, Christmas bashes and several other events.
It’s not clear which ones will be looked at by the police.
But Ms Dick did say that some of them did not meet the threshold for an investigation.
The PM has been dogged for weeks over the scandal, with several MPs now calling for a leadership contest.
However many have said they are waiting for the outcome of Ms Gray’s probe before making their move.
This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission
‘Stupid’: CEOs ’monumentally out of touch’
A union boss has come out swinging following reports some of Australia’s richest people want to cut penalty rates.
Cover marks ‘beginning of the end’ for Musk
A Time Magazine illustration of the billionaire seated in the Oval Office could make him a threat in the eyes of the President, commentators have said.
‘Real thing’: Canada on edge at Trump threat
Justin Trudeau has said he believes Donald Trump’s threat to annex Canada and make it America’s 51st state is far from a joke.