UK Politics

The Metropolitan Police says it will not change its position on investigating Downing Street parties after allegations over two new gatherings.A spokesperson for the force told The Independent that two reported leaving events for Boris Johnson’s then-director of communications and a personal photographer on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral would not be investigated before a Cabinet Office inquiry ends.They pointed to a statement released on Thursday, which police “do not normally investigate breaches of coronavirus regulations when they are reported long after they are said to have taken place”.“However, if significant evidence suggesting a breach of the regulations becomes available, officers may review and consider it,” it added.“The Met has ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office in relation to its inquiry. If the inquiry identifies evidence of behaviour that is potentially a criminal offence it will be passed to the Met for further consideration.”Campaign group the Good Law Project has issued formal legal proceedings against the force over its failure to investigate the parties, accusing police of “deferring to the powerful”.Scotland Yard has not commented on mounting questions over whether officers guarding Downing Street had witnessed or reported any of the alleged parties at the time.A letter sent by the Green Party to commissioner Dame Cressida Dick on Thursday called for a formal criminal investigation.Baroness Jones said there were “big questions” for the Met Police, adding: “Their officers must surely have monitored the gatherings via their security cameras and been aware of the rules in place at the time?”The force insisted that it had taken the same approach to breaches of coronavirus laws throughout the pandemic, where enforcement was a last resort.Fines were mainly given out by police officers who were present at incidents where the laws were broken, and witnessed them at the time.Following the scandal over Dominic Cummings’ trips to Durham and Barnard Castle during the first lockdown, when he was the prime minister’s chief adviser, national policy was clarified.Security Minister asked ‘what public should think’ about No 10 party held as Queen mournedCommanders in charge of the policing response to Covid issued a direction to all forces saying that retrospective investigations could be carried out for egregious breaches, if they were merited, proportionate and in the public interest.Ms Gray’s report is expected to give a factual account of the gatherings and individual conduct, but may stop short of attributing responsibility or alleging breaches of coronavirus law and guidance.Whitehall insiders view her task as “impossible” under the weight of public expectation, given her lack of legal powers and government push for a “swift result”.Addressing MPs on Wednesday, the prime minister said he would make a statement to parliament after Ms Gray has completed her inquiry and “the full facts have been established”Boris Johnson said he attended the 20 May 2020 “bring your own booze” gathering for 25 minutes, in the belief it was a “work event”, adding: “Though I cannot anticipate the conclusions of the current inquiry, I have learned enough to know that there were things that we simply did not get right, and I must take responsibility.”Minister Michael Ellis previously said the government would publish the findings of the investigation as soon as possible, adding: “It will establish the facts, and if wrongdoing is established requisite disciplinary action will be taken.“As with all internal investigations, if evidence emerges of what was potentially a criminal offence the matter will be referred to the Metropolitan Police.” More

Boris Johnson’s former director of communications James Slack has said he wants to “apologise unreservedly for the anger and hurt caused” by a party held to mark his leaving Downing Street in April 2021.It follows reports that two events were held on the evening of Friday 16 April 2021 — when England was under step 2 coronavirus restrictions which banned indoor mixing and placed limits on attendance at funerals and weddings.The gatherings also occurred on the evening before Prince Philip’s funeral at St George’s Chapel that saw the Queen sit alone, wearing a face mask, at a socially-distanced ceremony to bade farewell to her husband of 73 years.The Daily Telegraph said both events were leaving parties for staff working in the prime minister’s inner team. One was said to be held for Mr Slack, who is now deputy editor-in-chef of The Sun newspaper, and the other for Mr Johnson’s personal photographer.In a statement released on Friday morning by The Sun’s publisher, News UK, Mr Slack said: “I wish to apologise unreservedly for the anger and hurt caused. This event should not have happened at the time that it did. “I am deeply sorry, and take full responsibility,” he added.However, Mr Slack said he could not comment further on as the matter had been referred to an investigation being carried out by Sue Gray, who has been tasked by the prime minister to produce a report on allegations of rule breaking events held in government buildings.According to the report of the No 10 gatherings, which lasted beyond midnight, witnesses said that “excessive alcohol” was drunk, attendees danced to music DJ’d by a special adviser and at one point a staffer was allegedly sent to a local Co-op supermarket with a suitcase which they filed with bottles of wine before returning to the party. More

Boris Johnson’s former communications chief apologized “unreservedly” on Friday for a lockdown-breaching party in Downing Street last year — the latest in a string of rule-breaking social events that are threatening to topple the British prime minister.James Slack said his April 2021 job-leaving party “should not have happened at the time that it did.”“I wish to apologize unreservedly for the anger and hurt caused,” Slack said in a statement. “I am deeply sorry, and take full responsibility,” added Slack, who left the government last year and is now deputy editor-in-chief of tabloid newspaper The Sun.Johnson is not alleged to have attended the leaving party, disclosed by the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Earlier this week he apologized for going to another gathering in the garden of Downing Street, his office and home, in May 2020, when the U.K. was under strict lockdown. The latest party has appalled many in Britain because of the symbolism of its timing — April 16, 2021, the night before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip The Daily Telegraph said Downing Street staff drank, danced and socialized at leaving parties for Slack and another staff member on April 16 last year. The next day, the widowed queen sat alone in the church during her husband’s funeral service in order to adhere to social distancing rules that barred indoor mixing.Photos of the monarch, clad in black and wearing a face mask, became a powerful image of the isolation and sacrifice endured by many during the pandemic. Members of Johnson’s Conservative government have expressed support for Johnson following his admission on Wednesday that he attended a “bring your own booze” staff party in the garden of his Downing Street office in May 2020.At the time people in Britain were banned by law from meeting more than one person outside their households as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Millions were cut off from family and friends, and even barred from visiting dying relatives in hospitals.The latest revelations are likely to prompt more Conservatives to join opponents and demanding that Johnson resign for flouting the rules the government imposed on the country as the coronavirus swept the U.K.Many Conservatives fear the “partygate” scandal could become a tipping point for a leader who has weathered a series of other storms over his expenses, and his moral judgment.On Wednesday Johnson said he understood public “rage,” but stopped short of admitting wrongdoing, saying he had considered the gathering a work event to thank staff for their efforts during the pandemic.Johnson urged people to await the conclusions of an investigation by senior civil servant Sue Gray into multiple alleged rule-breaking parties by government staff during the pandemic. Gray, a respected public servant who has investigated past allegations of ministerial wrongdoing, is expected to report by the end of the month. The government says Gray’s inquiry is independent, but she is a civil servant and Johnson is, ultimately, her boss. Gray could conclude that Johnson broke the code of conduct for government ministers, though she does not have the power to fire him. Johnson has not said what he will do if she found he was at fault. Johnson does not have to face voters’ judgment until the next general election, scheduled for 2024. But his party could seek to oust him sooner if it judges he has become toxic.Under Conservative rules, a no-confidence vote in the leader can be triggered if 15% of party lawmakers write letters demanding it. Roger Gale, a Conservative lawmaker who has long been critical of Johnson, said he had already submitted a letter calling for a leadership challenge.“I do think that minds are now, over this weekend, being focused upon the need to take the necessary action,” he said. “I clearly don’t know, and I shouldn’t know, how many of my colleagues have put in letters … but I believe that there is some momentum which is growing.” More

Downing Street staff attended two separate parties on the evening before Prince Philip’s funeral amid strict Covid rules that saw the Queen sit alone as she bade farewell to her husband of 73 years, it has been alleged.The Daily Telegraph reported that two events were held on the evening of Friday 16 April 2021 – when the country was under step 2 coronavirus restrictions which banned indoor mixing.Both events were said to be leaving parties for staff working in the prime minister’s inner team. One was reportedly held for James Slack, Boris Johnson’s then-director of communications, and the other for the prime minister’s personal photographer. Witnesses told The Telegraph that “excessive alcohol” was drunk, attendees danced to music DJ’d by a special adviser, and the gatherings lasted beyond midnight.The paper reported that the celebrations were initially held separately before merging later in the evening. Around 30 people were allegedly present across both parties. For Mr Slack’s leaving drinks, The Telegraph said, colleagues began the party inside before moving to the Downing Street garden, while the second event was initially confined to the basement before that group also moved to the garden. A spokesperson told the paper Mr Johnson was not in No 10 on the day of the alleged gatherings.At one point a staffer was sent to a local Co-op supermarket with a suitcase which they filled with bottles of wine before returning to the party, the report said.Later in the evening, a colleague reportedly sat on a child’s swing belonging to Wilf Johnson, Mr Johnson’s son, and broke it.Commenting on Mr Slack’s leaving event, a Downing Street spokesperson told The Independent: “On this individual’s last day he gave a farewell speech to thank each team for the work they had done to support him, both those who had to be in the office for work and on a screen for those working from home.” Mr Slack declined to comment when approached by The Telegraph. The No 10 spokesperson would not comment on the claim of a separate leaving do on the same evening for Mr Johnson’s photographer.Responding to reports that staff at 10 Downing Street were partying just hours before the Queen attended the Duke of Edinburgh’s socially-distanced funeral, Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey said: “The Queen sitting alone, mourning the loss of her husband, was the defining image of lockdown. “Not because she is the Queen, but because she was just another person, mourning alone like too many others. Whilst she mourned, No 10 partied. Johnson must go.”Step 2 restrictions which were in force at the time meant funerals, such as Prince Philip’s on 17 April, could go ahead, but with only 30 attendees.People were urged to work from home “if you can” but rules on socialising with others were much stricter. “You must not socialise indoors except with your household or support bubble,” the guidelines stated. “You can meet outdoors, including in gardens, in groups of six people or two households.”For Philip’s funeral, guests were required to sit away from other households, but as the Queen had no family members – other than her husband – in her bubble, she was forced to sit alone. More

Christine Lee, a woman accused of seeking covert influence over British lawmakers, lobbied parliamentary figures over Chinese investment interests in nuclear power and battery technology, The Independent understands.Ms Lee, who has been accused by security agency MI5 of “political interference”, directly and indirectly tried to shift language from MPs on a host of issues related to critical national infrastructure, including energy, manufacturing and telecoms, sources told The Independent. The warning message to MPs said Ms Lee had engaged with “individuals across the UK political spectrum” in order to further the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda. Issues Ms Lee tried to steer included China’s involvement in Hinkley C nuclear power station and Sizewell, it is claimed. She is understood to have sought influence with a range of British lawmakers including Labour MP Barry Gardiner. Ms Lee donated more than £500,000 to fund Mr Gardiner’s office, records show. Her son worked for the MP until Thursday morning though he was not named in the communication from the parliamentary authorities.Mr Gardiner told Sky News on Thursday that he had spoken “openly and frankly” with the security services about his relationship with Ms Lee over several years and had never been warned off involvement with the female solicitor. He said he had not had any knowledge of “Christine Lee being a spy” until this morning. He added any discussions with Ms Lee on government policy were had “not in great detail”.Mr Gardiner spoke in favour of retaining Chinese involvement in Hinkley C, while serving as Labour’s shadow secretary of state for trade and a shadow minister for business and energy in September 2016. He said: “They [the government] risked a diplomatic dispute with one of our key future trading partners, and in the end all they have done is pretend to give themselves powers that they already possessed.” The MP also made a host of supportive remarks in response to a ministerial statement on a review of an £18 billion deal to build nuclear energy capacity in Somerset could pose any risks to security. Mr Gardiner criticised the government’s steps made to ensure that it could intervene in the sale of the French energy firm EDF’s stake in the critical infrastructure once it was completed. This step was aimed at preventing it from falling into Chinese ownership, according to a person with knowledge of the review. The then shadow secretary of state said: “…of course every Member of the House agrees that the Government’s primary responsibility is to safeguard our national security, but neither the Secretary of State nor the Prime Minister has ever been clear about what they consider to be the security risks associated with the current deal.” Mr Gardiner then suggested that Chinese involvement in the UK nuclear project did not pose a threat to sensitive intellectual property – a frequent charge levied at China’s state-owned enterprises. The MP also said that there was no cybersecurity risk arising from Chinese involvement because the project was “a kitemark for marketing their Hualong One reactor technology around the world” and therefore “such an attack would undermine the very reason the Chinese wanted to be involved in the project in the first place?”. Senior Tory MP Sir Ian Duncan Smith told Sky News that Mr Gardiner need to “open up” all of his correspondence with Ms Lee. Sir Ed Davey received a donation of £5,000 from Ms Lee in 2013 when he was energy secretary in the coalition government. A Lib Dem spokesperson said Sir Ed was “shocked by these revelations”. In 2019, then-prime minister Theresa May presented Ms Lee with and an award for building connections between the Chinese community and wider UK society. More

Divisions at the top of the government over the “partygate” row burst into the open today, with home secretary Priti Patel distancing herself from Rishi Sunak’s suggestion he was reserving judgement on Boris Johnson’s position until after the publication of an independent report.Downing Street was forced to insist that the prime minister enjoys the “full support” of his cabinet, following a lukewarm message from the chancellor on Twitter in which he said Mr Johnson was right to apologise for joining a drinks event in the Downing Street garden during lockdown and called for “patience while Sue Gray carries out her enquiry”.And the PM faced a growing backbench revolt, with at least five Tory MPs submitting letters of no-confidence in his leadership.Asked whether she was following Mr Sunak in qualifying support until the report is out, Ms Patel told Sky News: “No. On the contrary. I have publicly supported the prime minister and actually you’re speaking to the home secretary who spends all my time day in day out supporting the prime minister.”The chancellor sent out deputy Simon Clarke to damp down speculation over his stance. But the Treasury chief secretary’s own comments were guarded, as he said: “The chancellor was clear in his statement yesterday that he thinks it was right – as I do – that the prime minister should apologise and take responsibility for what happened in Downing Street, but also that this inquiry needs to be completed before we move forward. I think our positions are absolutely as one on that.”Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, was the latest to publicly announce he had submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister on Thursday night. He was the fifth MP to say he had written to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, calling for a vote on the PM’s future as head of the party.Mr Bridgen told BBC Newsnight: “With a heavy heart, I have written a letter to Sir Graham Brady indicating that I have no confidence in the Prime Minister and calling for a leadership election.”Scotland Yard indicated it will wait to see if the Gray inquiry identifies evidence of potentially criminal behaviour before launching any investigation into the Downing Street parties.Meanwhile, there was open conflict between Scottish Conservatives and the national leadership, as MSPs in Edinburgh rowed in behind leader Douglas Ross after he was branded a “lightweight” by Jacob Rees-Mogg for calling for Johnson’s resignation.One senior Scottish Tory was quoted as saying that it was “inconceivable” that the PM could address the party’s annual conference in Scotland in March after the events of this week – something which all previous leaders have done.Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, Mr Rees-Mogg appeared to offer a fresh excuse for the PM’s attendance at the “bring your own booze” gathering of around 40 staff on 20 May 2020, at a time when the public were told they could meet with no more than one person from another household outdoors.Mr Johnson told MPs on Wednesday that he had thought it was a work event. But Mr Rees-Mogg went further by suggesting that the upcoming Covid public inquiry should consider whether the restrictions in place at the time were “too hard on people”.Politics expert Professor Sir John Curtice said Mr Rees-Mogg’s attack on Mr Ross would be “repeated endlessly north of the border” by the Tories’ opponents.“Given the difficulties the Conservatives are now in, they are at risk of beginning to implode themselves as a result of the internal fighting within the party,” warned Prof Curtice.And the SNP seized on the comments, claiming they show “disdain for Scotland”.Kirsten Oswald, the party’s deputy leader at Westminster, said: “Not only is it deeply humiliating for Douglas Ross but it is a telling insight into the arrogant and dismissive attitude that the Tory government has towards Scotland as a whole.”Scottish Tory MSP Liz Smith described the remark as “very ill-advised”, while Holyrood colleague Jamie Greene said Mr Rees-Mogg should “have a long lie down”. Mr Ross himself said: “Jacob Rees-Mogg, as is anyone, is entitled to their opinions. I don’t have to agree with them.”After four Tory MPs – including Mr Ross – demanded Mr Johnson’s resignation on Wednesday, others indicated today that they were keeping their powder dry until they see the outcome of the inquiry being led by Ms Gray, which is now expected to conclude next week.But senior backbencher Philip Dunne made clear there would be serious consequences for anyone criticised by the Whitehall mandarin.Mr Dunne told Times Radio: “I think the prime minister was quite right to apologise yesterday, and I think it is right that we wait to see what the investigation from Sue Gray establishes.“People will then have to suffer the consequences of whatever happens.”He added: “It’s a very unsettling and unedifying period. These are serious allegations at a very serious time for the country and it is not comfortable.”Downing Street denied that the PM’s apology on Wednesday was insincere, after reports that he told MPs privately the scandal was “not his fault and he’s bravely taking the blame for others”.Responding to the claim, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Failing to take responsibility is in this prime minister’s DNA. He’ll always try to shift the blame, it’s always someone else’s fault. He’s not sorry, he’s sorry he got caught out.”But the PM’s official spokesperson said: “These are unsourced claims. What is clear is what the prime minister said repeatedly in the house, which is his view.“The prime minister made clear repeatedly that there were things we didn’t get right and he must take responsibility.”The spokesperson played down the significance of the eight-hour wait following Mr Johnson’s apology before Mr Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss signalled their support.Asked if Mr Johnson enjoyed the full support of his cabinet, the PM’s official spokesperson told a regular Westminster media briefing: “Yes, and you can see they continue to deliver on the public’s priorities.” More

An inquiry into parties in Downing Street during lockdown is reportedly expected to find the events did not break the law.Sue Gray, the senior civil servant conducting the inquiry, has not uncovered sufficient evidence of criminality to refer the incidents to the police, The Times reports sources as saying. The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that it is not conducting a criminal investigation into the gathering despite the prime minister confirming his attendance and apologsing. The force said it was in contact with the Cabinet Office over Ms Gray’s inquiry and would review its position if it receives evidence of potential criminal offences.Boris Johnson may still be censured for a lack of judgement in attending the party, despite his claim that he thought it was a work event, according to reports.Ms Gray is expected to criticise Downing Street culture and the blurred line between working and socialising. Whitehall sources told The Guardian her investigation would lay bare a “farcical” drinking culture.She is also likely to avoid making a conclusion over whether the prime minister has breached the ministerial code as it does not fall within her remit.The terms of reference of Ms Gray’s inquiry, as set out by the Cabinet Office, state that her primary aim is “to establish swiftly a general understanding of the nature of the gatherings, including attendance, the setting and the purpose, with reference to adherence to the guidance in place at the time”.She is not required to recommend any actions, but the terms make clear that she can pass judgement on whether “individual disciplinary action is warranted”.But there is doubt in Westminster that Ms Gray, a politically neutral and unelected civil servant, will see it as her role to reach a finding so unequivocal that it would force Mr Johnson from office.Reports by government officials, no matter how critical, tend to employ diplomatic terms which allow elected politicians to decide for themselves if a colleague is deserving of punishment.The Times reported Ms Gray may recommend disciplinary action against officials and special advisers who were involved in the events.The Metropolitan Police has not launched an investigation into the gathering at Downing Street on 20 May 2020 that the prime minister has apologised for attending.The force said it would review its position if Ms Gray’s inquiry were to find evidence of potential criminal offences.Ms Gray has been given no deadline for her investigation but it is expected that the report of her findings will be published next week.However, it has already been delayed several times as new allegations about parties emerged.When ready the report will be delivered to Mr Johnson, who has pledged to publish it and make a statement to the House of Commons. More