Met Police won’t issue any more Partygate fines until after local elections

No more fines will be issued over the partygate scandal until after the local elections in May, the Met Police has announced.

Boris Johnson’s aides are braced for him to receive multiple fines, having already been handed one fixed-penalty notice for the gathering on his 56th birthday in June 2020.

The prime minister is thought to have been at six of the 12 lockdown events under investigation by Scotland Yard.

The force has so far issued 50 fixed penalty notices in connection with illegal gatherings held in and around Downing Street during lockdown, but are continuing to investigate further alleged breaches.

However, senior officers are said to be keen to avoid their probe influencing the local elections.

A spokesman said: ‘Whilst the investigation will continue during the pre-election period, due to the restrictions around communicating before the May local elections, we will not provide further updates until after 5 May.’

The move came as the PM – currently on a trip to India – faced the prospect of an investigation over whether he misled parliament by claiming no rules had been broken in Downing Street when emergency coronavirus laws were in place.

In response to a backbench revolt, ministers abandoned attempts to force Conservative MPs to vote for a delay in setting up any investigation, meaning it is now expected to be approved on Thursday – although it will not begin until police inquiries have concluded.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Prime Minister had tried to ‘cover up his misdeeds’ by taking advantage of the Commons convention not to call someone a liar.

‘The Prime Minister has stood before this House and said things that are not true, safe in the knowledge that he will not be accused of lying because he can’t be,’ Sir Keir said.

‘He has stood at that despatch box and point blank denied rule-breaking took place, when it did.

‘As he did so, he was hoping to gain extra protection from our good faith that no Prime Minister would deliberately mislead the House.’

MPs will decide whether a Commons committee should look into allegations that Mr Johnson misled the House with his repeated denials about Downing Street parties during the coronavirus lockdown.

The prime minister will miss the Commons vote on a Labour-led motion calling for the Privileges Committee investigation because he is on an official visit to India.

Tory MPs had initially been ordered to back a government amendment which would defer any decision on referring the matter to the committee until after the conclusion of the Met Police inquiry.

But in a late U-turn shortly before the debate began, Commons Leader Mark Spencer said there would be a free vote for Tory MPs.

It follows speculation at Westminster that Tory MPs were not prepared to back the government’s attempt to kick the issue into the long grass.

The scale of Tory unease was set out by Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee chairman William Wragg, who confirmed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership.

‘I cannot reconcile myself to the Prime Minister’s continued leadership of our country and the Conservative Party,’ he told MPs.

In a scathing speech, Mr Wragg added: ‘There can be few colleagues on this side of the House I would contend who are truly enjoying being Members of Parliament at the moment.

‘It is utterly depressing to be asked to defend the indefensible. Each time part of us withers.’

Senior Tory Steve Baker also told Boris Johnson to go, telling him he would be ‘long gone’ if he was in any other job after breaking Covid rules.

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