Met told to answer key partygate questions as storm widens

SCOTLAND Yard was plunged deeper into the partygate storm today as Sadiq Khan demanded it explain why Boris Johnson was not fined for attending what appeared to be a leaving party in No10 when Britain was in lockdown.

The Mayor said the Metropolitan Police should provide some justification for the outcome of its investigation into partygate to ensure “trust and confidence” in the force. His intervention came after ITV News published four pictures which reportedly showed the Prime Minister at a leaving do for outgoing director of communications Lee Cain on November 13, 2020, including raising a glass in what appeared to be a toast.

Just days earlier, on November 5, Mr Johnson had imposed the second lockdown on England, meaning people could only meet one other person outside their household or support bubble and it had to be outdoors.

The Prime Minister is believed to have attended several parties in No10 when the country was under lockdown or other Covid restriction rules.

But he has only been fined £50 for one event, as was his wife Carrie and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, for being at a surprise birthday party for the PM in No10 in June 2020.

Mr Khan, who as Mayor oversees the Met, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s important, when it comes to trust and confidence, when it comes to policing by consent, when it comes to questions being asked about the integrity of an investigation that the police explain why they’ve reached the conclusions they have.

“Yesterday was the first time I saw the photograph of Boris Johnson raising a glass, clearly bottles of wine laying around, others with wine in their hand, on a day when he said in the House of Commons... that there wasn’t a party.”

The publication of the full report into the partygate scandal by senior civil servant Sue Gray,

possibly tomorrow, may pile more pressure on the Met as it is expected to lift the lid on a party culture in No10.

At least one other person at the leaving do on November 13 is believed to have received a fixed penalty notice.

The pictures also show the Prime Minister’s red box, which may allow his aides to argue that he was at the gathering in a work capacity.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps rejected Mr Khan’s calls for the Met to explain how the fixed penalty notice decisions were made.

He told BBC Radio: “I don’t think the police should provide running commentaries, no. They would have had access to all of the evidence.”

He denied Mr Johnson deliberately misled Parliament by claiming Covid rules were followed in No 10.

However, the PM faced fresh calls from some Tory MPs to resign over the scandal and is facing an investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee into whether he misled Parliament. One senior Conservative said the photos had “shifted the dial” against the PM.

No 10 may be alarmed that David Simmonds, MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, which neighbours Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, told of his concerns following the publication of the photos.

“We were all told very clearly that there definitely had not been a party on the day in question and these photographs have emerged which suggest that that’s not the case. We need to hear the Prime Minister’s explanation for that,” he told BBC radio.

There were at least eight other people reportedly in the room for the leaving do at a time when people were banned from social mixing indoors.

However, Mr Shapps pointed to Mr Johnson’s red box being present in the images as he stressed that the Prime Minister was “clearly not” partying.

“It looks to me like he goes down on his way out of the office and thanks the staff and raises a glass, and doesn’t in his mind recognise it as a party,” he said.

But the Government’s version of events were disputed by some claims online which asserted Mr Johnson may have spent 20 to 25 minutes at the party and may even have orchestrated the event.

Mr Shapps was unable to refute a claim in The Times that Mr Johnson suggested to Ms Gray in a meeting earlier this month that there might not be a need for her to publish her report following the police investigation.

As Westminster waited for the Gray report, Waveney MP Peter Aldous said he had not withdrawn his letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson to Sir Graham

Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Backbench Tory MPs.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross demanded the Prime Minister explain why he believed his behaviour was “acceptable” when most people would think the pictures showed “unjustifiable and wrong” behaviour.

Veteran Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, who withdrew his call for Mr Johnson to quit at the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, tweeted: “I believe that the PM has misled the HoC’s from the despatch box. That is a resignation issue.”

Chris Bryant, Labour chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, said: “He knowingly lied. He should go.” Mr Johnson denies misleading Parliament.

The Liberal Democrats have urged the Independent Office for Police Conduct to examine the Met’s Operation Hillman inquiry into events in No 10 and Whitehall.

The Met Operation Hillman inquiry into partygate, of 12 gatherings over eight days, was completed last week with the force announcing 126 fines for events breaching lockdown laws.

Altogether 83 people were handed penalties. Twelve detectives examined 345 documents, 510 photographs and CCTV images and 204 questionnaires as part of a “careful and thorough inquiry”.

The Met added at the completion of the investigation: “We took great care to ensure that for each referral we had the necessary evidence to prosecute the FPN at court, were it not paid.”

Scotland Yard this morning refused to comment on the furore.

We were all told very clearly that there had not been a party … we need to hear the PM’s explanation

Tory MP David Simmonds