Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick
(Picture: PA Wire)When it comes to politicians, senior Metropolitan Police officers appear on occasion to roll their eyes hypnotically like victims of Kaa the snake in The Jungle Book.
For weeks, Dame Cressida Dick’s force resisted getting involved in probing multiple rule-breaking lockdown parties at 10 Downing Street and Whitehall.
The decision seemed to fly in the face of mounting evidence gathered by journalists since before Christmas and resulted in a further loss of public confidence.
But when the Met Commissioner appeared before politicians at City Hall on Tuesday for a grilling about “partygate”, she suddenly announced there would be an investigation after all.
No mention was made that just four days later her criminal inquiry would potentially scupper top civil servant Sue Gray’s findings into lockdown parties at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government.
On Friday, in a move that took the Cabinet Office by surprise, Scotland Yard said Ms Gray’s report should contain “minimal reference” to the No10 gatherings.
It increased the likelihood of the Gray conclusions being delayed until after the Met has completed its probe to avoid prejudice.
The intervention was in response to damaging Whitehall briefings against Dame Cressida overnight.
One government figure was quoted as saying: “Cressida has completely f***ed it all up.”
Scotland Yard’s statement - one its PR team believed was fairly anodyne - appeared to ease pressure on Mr Johnson, meaning Ms Gray’s report will have been missing the most serious alleged breaches of Covid laws when Britain was in lockdown or under other Covid restrictions.
Mr Johnson waits anxiously for Gray’s dossier which has the potential to trigger a vote of no confidence by Tory MPs in his leadership.
Retired chief constables and legal experts are left wondering why the inhabitants of Downing Street, Westminster appear to be treated differently than if, let’s say, they lived 13 miles away in Downing Road, Dagenham.
One former police chief told the Standard: “Police operate without fear and favour but in recent history, investigations against politicians haven’t ended well for the Met.
“Not only is the so-called ‘partygate’ investigation political, it is clearly being orchestrated.
“The Met has to be careful not to get hypnotised and seduced by people who set bear traps and watch us step on the springs. Today was such an example. There’ll be a few more.”
Mr Johnson’s government faces allegations that “wine time” Fridays, leaving dos, Christmas get-togethers and a “bring-your-own-booze” garden party were held at No10 over the last two years.
The Yard’s probe is being conducted by the ‘celebrity squad’, otherwise known as the Special Enquiry Team.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jane Connors and Commander Catherine Roper, two of Dame Cressida’s most trusted lieutenants, will oversee it.
Although it’s easy to understand the Commissioner’s caution around the matter, dishing out fixed penalty notices for breaches of coronavirus regulations is the lowest rung of policing.
Thousands of ordinary members of the public faced police raids and crippling fines for holding gatherings and parties.
Staff who gathered for drinks at a Soho juice bar had the red dot of a Taser stun gun trained on them at 3am during the third national lockdown.
DAC Connors previously hit out at Covid rule-breakers in the Standard saying those “flagrantly” ignoring the regulations forced officers to be diverted from frontline duties.
She wrote last March: “Frustratingly, a small minority ignored the rules and continue to do so.
“As people lay in hospital beds, others held large house parties or raves in abandoned warehouses.”
Officers have not confirmed how many events they are investigating in Downing Street, but reports have suggested it could be as high as eight.
A source added: “There was never any question of No10 being raided by a van of police from the Met Taskforce handing out fixed penalties.
“But this is a case where there is evidence upon evidence, where the Met previously said there was no evidence, and they have gone after members of the public with zeal.”
Amid warnings of a possible “stitch-up”, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, said on Friday: “What I want to see is Sue Gray’s report in full and the investigation finished as quickly as possible, because we’re in this situation where the whole of Government is paralysed because the police are looking at what the Prime Minister was getting up to in Downing Street.”
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley said Dame Cressida had shown a “staggering lack of judgement”.
He added: “It’s a huge misjudgment and of course it could be perceived as a staggering lack of independence as well. Conspiracy theorists will now think: ‘Of course she’s trying to protect Downing Street’.”
Lord Macdonald, another former DPP, suggested the Met stance was “disproportionate”.
He told the BBC: “If we’re talking about fixed penalty notices – like parking tickets, essentially – if we’re talking about that kind of resolution, then to take the rather grave step to delay a report that is going to shed public light on the subject matter of what may be a major public scandal, I think that is undesirable and I think it may be a misjudgment.
“But only police know what it is that is really at play here.”
Fran Hall, whose husband served in the police for more than three decades before dying with coronavirus, accused the Met of letting bereaved families down as the Gray inquiry becomes “a circus”.
Mrs Hall, spokesman for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “Tragically, it seems here that the Metropolitan Police have broken the trust of the public by first refusing to investigate flagrant law-breaking, and now demanding any other investigations hide the most serious illegalities happening at Downing Street.
“It’s incredibly painful and they have let families like mine down. My husband was completely committed to justice, and he would have been appalled by this.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “A stitch-up between the Met leadership and No 10 will damage our politics for generations, and it looks like it is happening right in front of our eyes.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, called for the report to be published “in full and undoctored without further delay”.
“People are understandably concerned that this increasingly looks like a cover-up,” he added.
Tory MP Christopher Chope accused the force of “usurping its position by seeking to interfere in the affairs of state”.
Legal experts also questioned how publication of the Gray inquiry could possibly prejudice a criminal investigation.
Adam Wagner, a human rights barrister who is an expert on Covid regulations, asked: “How would a factual Civil Service report about events the police is investigating ‘prejudice’ their investigation?
“Arguably all of this would have been avoided if police had done the sensible thing and begun investigating in December when the allegations emerged. Now we are in public accountability limbo and there is a messy dynamic between the internal Gray report and police investigation.”
Asked if No 10 has had any conversations with the Met about what can be published, a spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “No, not that I’m aware of.”
Pressed whether Downing Street has had any similar conversations with the Cabinet Office, the spokesman replied: “It’s completely a matter for the investigation team to decide what’s in the report.”
After being given a two-year extension to her contract with conditions, beleaguered Dame Cressida must be careful her agenda for 2022 - to clean up the force following the murder of Sarah Everard by Met PC Wayne Couzens and other recent scandals - isn’t so easily derailed.
Politicians will attempt to envelop her like the coils of a snake but she must wrestle free.
