Scotland Yard could now investigate a Christmas quiz held in Downing Street during the 2020 lockdown, after a new photograph of Boris Johnson attending the event emerged.
Johnson was put back in the partygate frame on Wednesday as yet another picture emerged of the Prime Minister and his staff whooping it up during lockdown.
As the Prime Minister clashed with Keir Starmer and Ian Blackford in the Commons, the Daily Mirror published an image showing Johnson flanked by three members of staff at a Christmas gathering on December 15, 2020.
The PM can be seen in a room with three people, apparently hosting a virtual quiz with others taking part online.
One person is wearing a Christmas hat, another has purple and pink tinsel draped around their neck.
There is an open bottle of fizz on the table and a half-eaten packet of crisps.
Covid rules in England at the time banned two or more people from different households from mixing indoors.
The police are currently investigating 12 parties or gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall held during England’s lockdowns but the December 15 quiz is not one of them.
However, following the publication of the photograph, the Met said in a this could change.
In a statement Scotland Yard said: “The MPS previously assessed this event and determined that on the basis of the evidence available at that time, it did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation. That assessment is now being reviewed.”
Asked to describe what is happening in the picture, a spokeswoman for the PM said earlier: “It was a virtual quiz."
“But as Sue Gray said in her report, she was unable to set out full details of those events the Met are not looking into, but as the PM repeated today, as soon as the inquiries are over we will publish in full what Sue Gray reports.”
Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser turned enemy, tweeted: “there’s waaaaay better pics than that floating around, incl in the flat.”
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