Pressure on Met over pictures of PM raising a toast in No10
Police asked why Johnson avoided Covid fine for aide’s lockdown leaving party that was ‘so obviously a breach’
‘I can’t work out why he’s not been fined and other people have. The Met’s a shambles’
SCOTLAND YARD is under pressure to explain why the Prime Minister was not fined for attending a gathering in Downing Street at which he raised a toast with a group of colleagues.
Sue Gray’s report into the “partygate” events in No 10 during the pandemic could be published as soon as today.
Last night, pictures emerged from a leaving party for Lee Cain, Boris Johnson’s former director of communications, which was held on Nov 13 2020, when the country was in a second lockdown. The Prime Minister can be seen holding a glass of what appears to be champagne with a group of about seven other people, who are all standing in close proximity to one another.
It is understood that Mr Johnson never received a questionnaire during the Metropolitan Police investigation asking him to explain his presence at the party, even though at least one other attendee was given a fixed penalty notice. It is also understood that some of those who attended the event are angry that Mr Johnson has not been fined. Last night a source said: “I can’t work out why he’s not been fined and other people have. The Met’s a shambles. They’ve been told a lot of stuff and they’ve just ignored it. It’s so obviously a breach. Whatever way you look at it, it’s a breach. None of us can figure it out.”
Meanwhile, The Times reported last night that Mr Johnson urged Ms Gray to drop plans to publish her report during a secret meeting earlier this month.
“He asked her, is there much point in doing it now that it’s all out there?” a source told the paper.
Yesterday Downing Street admitted it had first suggested the meeting, but said it was to discuss the “timing” of the report’s release.
Mr Johnson had hoped he could put partygate behind him when it was announced that the Met had completed its investigation and had issued him with only one fine, for his “birthday party” in Downing Street on June 19 2020 at which he was supposedly “ambushed with a cake”.
But he is now facing fresh questions over whether he misled Parliament about the events of Nov 13, having told MPS that he was “sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times”.
The images were published by ITV News last night amid speculation that Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s former aide, may have been the source.
Last night Scotland Yard was under pressure to explain how its investigation was conducted and why only certain people had received fines. The Liberal Democrats have written to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), asking for an investigation into the Met’s handling of the allegations.
Lord Paddick, the former deputy assistant commissioner of the Met, said: “It appears the evidence from the photograph proves beyond all reasonable doubt that the Covid regulations have been breached and therefore why the police have not issued a fixed penalty notice makes no sense.”
Met sources said they were concerned that the fallout from the investigation would further damage the force’s reputation. Senior officers have refused to explain how detectives came to their decisions, although Acting Commissioner Sir Stephen House is expected to face questions when he appears before the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee on Thursday.
Marina Ahmad, a Labour assembly member who is on the committee, said: “The photos that have emerged raise significant questions for the Metropolitan Police over whether they had access to this evidence, and if so, how investigators arrived at their judgment not to issue Boris Johnson with a fixed penalty notice for the event.”
Criticism of Mr Johnson over partygate also intensified last night. Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, posted an image of a government Covid advert online which stated: “If one person breaks the rules, we will all suffer.” She said: “What if that one person was the Prime Minister? What if he made the rules he broke? What if he was responsible for rule-breaking on an industrial scale? What if he lied to the public and Parliament about it? What then?”
Ms Rayner is herself under police investigation over the so-called beergate event, along with Sir Keir Starmer.
Parliament’s Privileges Committee has already been asked to investigate whether Mr Johnson intentionally misled the Commons in statements denying that Covid rules or guidance were broken during lockdown in Downing Street.
Chris Bryant, who normally chairs the committee but has recused himself from this investigation, said the emergence of photographs made it
more likely the committee will find against the Prime Minister.
“I think people thought it might be difficult to prove, but it’s looking a bit easier now,” Mr Bryant said.
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, said Mr Johnson “must outline why he believes this behaviour was acceptable” and described the photographs as “unjustifiable and wrong”.
Roger Gale, the Tory MP, who has previously called for Mr Johnson to resign, said: “It’s absolutely clear there was a party, that he attended it. Therefore, he misled us from the despatch box. Honourably, there is one answer.”
Hours before the images emerged, Mr Cummings wrote on his blog that photographs would soon be published that would show that Mr Johnson had “obviously lied to the Commons and possibly to the cops”. Mr Cummings has previously been accused of leaking damaging material about Mr Johnson since leaving No10 in November 2020.
On Thursday last week, Scotland Yard announced that it had concluded its four-month partygate investigation and had issued a total of 126 fixed penalty notices to 83 people, linked to events on eight separate dates.
Sources close to Ms Gray said she had always considered the Lee Cain leaving party to be the most egregious of all the events Mr Johnson attended. She was said to be “flabbergasted” at the decision by the Met not to fine Mr Johnson over the gathering.
A spokesman for Ms Gray last night refused to comment on whether the photographs of Mr Johnson and others at the leaving do were among the 510 images collected by her investigation and examined by the Met.
Downing Street sources suggested last night that the reason Mr Johnson was not fined over the leaving party may be because he had only briefly attended it on his way from his office to the private flat he lives in above No11. It is understood the event had already started when the Prime Minister arrived and gave a speech.