Ex-chiefs piling pressure on Met to probe No 10

SCOTLAND Yard was facing intense pressure last night to investigate No10 lockdown parties as expolice chiefs said it had become an ‘issue of public confidence’.

Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has been bombarded with complaints and faces legal action over the decision not to investigate parties held in apparent breach of lockdown rules.

Yesterday, a number of former chief constables demanded a probe, as legal experts suggested Boris Johnson could even be named as an ‘accessory to a crime’ if he attended a party in his own garden during the lockdown.

The Met announced officers were in touch with the Cabinet Office in light of ‘widespread reporting relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at Downing Street’.

But detectives refused to step in, insisting it was up to the Cabinet Office to investigate, despite a bombshell email from one of the Prime Minister’s top officials inviting more than 100 Downing Street staff to a ‘bring your own booze’ party in the first lockdown.

Attendees have claimed Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie were present at the garden gathering on May 20, 2020.

Adam Wagner, a human rights barrister and visiting law professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, said yesterday the Prime Minister could not be fined as he was technically in his own garden. But the Covid regulation expert told BBC Radio 4: ‘The only potential offence which could apply to the Prime Minister would be being an accessory to other people’s crimes.’

At the time, you could meet just one person outside your household 2m apart in an outdoor, public place.

Sir Peter Fahy, former chief constable of Greater Manchester, said there were questions for police on duty at the time, adding: ‘They were monitoring who was going in and out. Did they realise this might not be quite right?

‘Was it raised as a concern? On the other side of that big gate, other officers are stopping people on the street and fining them for Covid breaches.’

The current chief constable, Stephen Watson said: ‘It’s really important that adherence to legislation is uniformly observed and properly enforced.’

Sir Hugh Orde, ex-head of the Association of Chief Police Officers said: ‘There’s certainly an issue of public confidence.’

Yesterday, Lib Dem London politician Caroline Pidgeon wrote to Dame Cressida asking for an investigation.

The Good Law Project campaign group has started legal proceedings over the Met’s refusal to investigate reports of a No10 party on December 18, 2020. No action is expected until the conclusion of a Cabinet Office probe by senior civil servant Sue Gray.