Khan’s ‘completely inappropriate meddling’ piles pressure on Met
SADIQ Khan has asked the acting head of the Metropolitan Police to explain the force’s decisions over Partygate after pictures emerged of Boris Johnson drinking at a gathering for which he was not fined.
The London mayor (pictured) wrote to Sir Stephen House yesterday to seek answers about the Met’s decisions in individual cases in the investigation, Operation Hillman.
He warned that trust in Scotland Yard was being ‘further eroded’ by a ‘lack of clarity’ around how decisions were made during the inquiry into parties which breached coronavirus laws.
One Whitehall source described Mr Khan’s intervention as ‘completely inappropriate’.
‘It looks like a massive level of political interference,’ the source said. ‘You’ve basically got the Labour police and crime commissioner for London interfering in a Met Police investigation into another party. It’s completely inappropriate.’ Mr Johnson received a fixed-penalty notice (FPN) over a birthday party in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 but was told he would face no further action over other gatherings covered by the police’s Operation Hillman inquiry. Those included the November 13 2020 gathering to mark former spin doctor Lee Cain’s departure from No10, an event at which pictures obtained by ITV apparently showed Mr Johnson raising a toast and drinking wine. The Met has issued 126 FPNs to 83 people involved in a series of events in Downing Street and Whitehall, including the leaving do on November 13 2020.
A spokeswoman for Mr Khan said: ‘Sadiq has today written to the acting Commissioner of the Met to seek a detailed explanation of the factors which were taken into account by investigating officers when decisions were made about whether to take action in individual cases in the Downing Street Partygate investigation.’
She said Mr Khan requested the Met ‘reassure Londoners by making this explanation to them directly’.
Mr Khan had made clear he would not interfere in operational decisions and the Met has confirmed that Operation Hillman, which looked at the lockdownbusting events in No10 and Whitehall, has concluded.