The Metropolitan Police has announced that 20 cases of lockdown breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall will be made the subject of fixed penalty notices, the first tranche of fines to be issued over the “Partygate” scandal that rocked Boris Johnson’s government this winter.
The Met said it would not disclose the identities of the recipients of the fines, although Mr Johnson’s office has said it will reveal whether or not the prime minister himself has received one and, so far, has not done so.
The force said officers were working through a “significant amount of investigative material” as part of its probe into 12 social events that took place in Westminster between 2020 and 2021 while the rest of the country was living under strict social restrictions in order to hold back the coronavirus pandemic, unable to go to work, meet friends or attend to ailing loved ones in many instances.
Mr Johnson is alleged to have attended at least six of the 12 gatherings under scrutiny and is one of over 100 people, along with his wife Carrie Johnson and Cabinet secretary Simon Case, who were recently asked to complete a questionnaire about the affair by officers.
More fines could follow as the investigation continues (promising further waves of bad publicity for the government), two months after senior civil servant Sue Gray submitted evidence she had compiled to the Met in the course of carrying out her own internal inquiry into Partygate, a scandal that placed Mr Johnson’s premiership in severe jeopardy before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February allowed him to play the great statesman on the world stage and drove the matter from the media spotlight.
Only a brief, redacted version of Ms Gray’s report has appeared so far, in which she diagnosed a “failure of leadership” on the government’s part for allowing an informal party culture to develop at Downing Street in blithe indifference to the rules the government had set for the electorate to live by, resulting in secretive “bring your own booze” garden parties, birthday celebrations and “wine time Fridays”.
Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner appeared on Sky News on Tuesday morning and repeated her demand that Mr Johnson resign if he is ultimately fined for his part in breaching Covid-19 regulations, arguing that his position would be “untenable”, a call a number of Mr Johnson’s fellow Conservatives supported earlier this year and may back again.
But the prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, admitting he attended one Downing Street bash but “believed implicitly that it was a work event” and has expressed disgust over a video obtained by ITV News of his own staff appearing to mock the suggestion that they had held clandestine Christmas parties, an incident that led to the tearful resignation of top aide Allegra Stratton in December.
The recipient of a fixed penalty notice for breaching Covid restrictions will be fined £100 for a first offence, rising to £200 if they fail to pay it within 14 days.
The extent of the fine issued doubles with each further breach of the laws up to a maximum of £10,000.
If someone chooses to contest the notice, police will then review the case and decide whether to withdraw it or take the matter to court.
The administration of fines is dealt with by Acro, the criminal records office for England and Wales, which receives and processes the payments required.
A fixed penalty notice is reserved for only minor offences, like parking violations, and is not considered a caution or a criminal violation so will not land the recipient with a criminal record, although it can be recorded on the Police National Computer for future reference.
Non-payment of the fine could result in prosecution, however.
