Scotland Yard dismissed the Lib Dems’ calls for an inquiry
(Picture: PA Archive)Scotland Yard on Wednesday dismissed a request to re-examine its partygate probe as senior civil servant Sue Gray‘s report was finally published.
The Met Police said it would not “further investigate” a complaint from the Lib Dems into its inquiry after pictures emerged of Boris Johnson reportedly at a leaving party, drink in hand, on November 13, 2020, when England was in lockdown.
The Prime Minister was not fined for this event, receiving just the one fixed penalty notice for being at a surprise birthday party in June 2020.
The photos immediately sparked questions about the Met’s investigation, with Mayor Sadiq Khan calling for it to explain the decisions on the issuing, or not, of fines.
The Lib Dems wrote to the Independent Office for Police Conduct asking it to open an inquiry into the Met’s Operation Hillman partygate probe.
The IOPC referred the request to Scotland Yard which dismissed the call, saying that under the Police Reform Act 2002 complaints would only be looked at if they came from “a person directly affected by police conduct, a person who was adversely affected by police conduct or a person who witnessed the conduct at first hand”.
It added: “Any person who is aware of police conduct through a third party or, through a medium such as television, will neither be a witness, nor can they be adversely effected.”
However, Lib-Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper criticised the move and asked for the IOPC to take the exceptional step of launching its own inquiry.
“The Met’s refusal to refer itself to the police watchdog looks seriously short-sighted and will further undermine public trust,” she said.
The row escalated hours before Ms Gray’s full report was published.
Sue Gray has concluded the “senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture” in her report.
The 59-page document includes details of 16 boozy events across Whitehall and in Downing Street in breach of Covid laws.
It shows photographs from Lee Cain’s lockdown leaving party in November 2020 at which the Prime Minister gave a toast in front of a table strewn with half empty alcohol bottles.
Pictures from Boris Johnson’s surprise birthday party in June 2020 were also published in the document. Mr Johnson, his wife Carrie and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were all fined £50 for attending the event during the first national lockdown.
Shortly before 10.30 Wednesday morning, the Cabinet Office issued a brief statement saying: “We can confirm that Sue Gray has provided her final report to the Prime Minister.”
As he seeks to stay in office, Mr Johnson, who has already apologised for the gatherings in No10, was due to make a statement to Parliament, take questions at a press conference and then meet his backbenchers later this afternoon.
The threat to his premiership had eased in recent weeks.
But the publication by ITV News of pictures of Mr Johnson, allegedly at a No10 leaving do for outgoing director of communications Lee Cain, where bottles of wine and fizz could be seen on a table, led some Tory MPs to renew their calls for him to stand down.
His red box was also in at least one of the pictures, which may allow his aides to argue that he was at the event as part of his working day.
If Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, receives 54 letters of no confidence in the PM, it would trigger a confidence vote. But it was far from clear if that many Conservative MPs would move against him or not.
Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has made clear he will not be resigning and the Prime Minister will not sack him, according to Whitehall briefings.
Seeking to shift the spotlight away from the partygate scandal, Chancellor Rishi Sunak could this week unveil a new package of support for households hard-hit by the cost-of-living crisis, and possibly a windfall tax.
Ahead of the report, a Cabinet minister acknowledged that the line between work and social activity was blurred in No 10 during the lockdowns.
Environment Secretary George Eustice told Times Radio: “Clearly what happened in No10 is a culture developed where they were working there, it was their place of work, and there were times when they would have a drink at the end of the day.
“That boundary between what was acceptable and what wasn’t got blurred and that was a mistake and Sue Gray highlighted that in her first interim report and I think she is almost certainly going to say more about that when her final report comes out.
“The Prime Minister himself has accepted that and recognises there were of course failings and therefore there’s got to be some changes to the way the place is run.”
Mr Johnson is facing an inquiry by the Commons Privileges Committee into whether he deliberately misled Parliament, which would be a resigning matter, according to many MPs.
Mr Eustice said: “The Prime Minister has also given a very clear account of his own understanding of all of those events that he attended, that he didn’t regard them as parties, that he didn’t regard them as breaking the rules.
“He has explained that, that was his understanding, and obviously where the police have said there were particular failings on his part, in respect of the birthday party... he has acknowledged that and paid that fixed penalty notice.”
