Tories’ ex-mayor candidate quits over lockdown party

THE former Tory candidate for London mayor last night resigned as chairman of the capital’s policing body after it emerged he attended a lockdown-busting party.

Shaun Bailey’s team held the gathering with drinks and dancing in the basement of Conservative Party headquarters in Westminster last December. At the time London was under Tier 2 restrictions that banned people from meeting socially with friends and family indoors.

Mr Bailey’s resignation came shortly before The Daily Mirror published a photograph of him and other staff at the party. The image showed 24 people with drinks, and buffet food laid out. The event was so raucous that revellers ended up damaging an office door.

The Tories previously admitted the party had taken place on December 14, and said that staff had been disciplined.

A Greater London Assembly Conservative spokesman said Mr Bailey would ‘continue to speak up for Londoners who no longer feel safe in our city and push for a strategy to tackle the disproportionate level of crime in London’s black community’.

Meanwhile, it emerged last night that an alarm was accidentally set off in Downing Street on the night of an alleged Christmas party last year.

It went off in a separate room to where the gathering of aides with wine and cheese was taking place on December 18.

ITV News reported that a Metropolitan Police officer entered the reception of No10 to make checks. It raises further questions about whether police turned a blind eye to the lockdown party taking place.

Separately, it was claimed that No 10 staff who stayed in Downing Street to take part in a Christmas quiz the following day – on December 15 – were told to ‘go

‘Speak up for Londoners’

out the back’. The festive quiz – which the Prime Minister helped to host – was held virtually, but many are said to have taken part from the office.

A message sent by No 10’s head of HR on the night advised that those who had stayed behind to take part ‘go out the back’ when they left, according to the Mirror.

Teams from the PM’s private office, the policy unit and press office were said to be among those taking part.

The team names for the quiz reportedly included ‘Professor Quiz Whitty’, ‘Next Slide Please’, ‘The 6 Masketeers’ and ‘Hands, Face, First Place’.

A Government spokesman said: ‘Given there is an ongoing review, it would be inappropriate to comment while that is ongoing.’

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has been tasked with investigating these alleged gatherings.