The Met Police has announced it will interview two attendees of the lockdown-busting party hosted at the Tory Party Headquarters last December.
Some have criticized the force for not taking action on allegations of gatherings at Downing Street. They also criticised it. The news was announced by the force Thursday night.
After photos showed that Shaun Bailey was breaking rules during his mayoral campaign, the incident occurred at Westminster headquarters on December 14, 2020.
Matt Hancock (then-Health Secretary) had earlier announced London would become subject to Tier 3 restrictions. This means that separate houses could not be mixed indoors.
Downing Street employees joined the party. The event saw them dance until the wee hours, in spite of London’s Covid ban on indoor socializing at that time.
After enduring pressure for a week, Mr Bailey gave in to the demands and was forced to quit. Four staff members were disciplined after the “raucous” gathering. A door had been reported as having been broken.
Photographs showed that Shaun Bailey broke a number of rules during his mayoral campaign. It took place at the Westminster Headquarters on December 14, 2020.
Ex-mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has quit as chairman of the London Assembly’s police and crime committee following revelations of a Chistmas gathering he attended last year, in breach of Covid regulations
A photograph taken last night shows Mr Bailey (50) standing in the middle a group of about 24 people, all gathered at Conservative Party Headquarters with plates of food.
It is believed that Mr Bailey (teetotal) left the party in the early hours of the evening after taking the photograph.
Eleven days after the event, he took the opportunity to tweet to appeal to people to adhere to the rules. He said that restrictions are ‘tough’ on all Londoners.
Labour, Lib Dems and Green Party members of the London Assembly sent Cressida Dick a letter to demand an investigation.
The partygoers don’t wear masks, although some are seen with billionaire Tory donor Nick Candy raising drinks to toast the occasion. Tier 2 restrictions meant that millions of Londoners would have to be self-isolated.
At the time Britain was in the grip of a second lockdown, and London later in Tier 3 restrictions, with all indoor social gatherings banned unless they involved a single household bubble.
The Met Chief Cressida Dick stated that she would not investigate any allegations, despite widespread protests.
Today, however, the Met said that it had received “significant amounts of correspondence” relating to claims that Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) Regulations at Downing Street were violated in November and December 2020.
Scotland Yard will receive any evidence arising from the Cabinet Office inquiry that might indicate that actions could have been deemed criminal offenses.
A Met spokesperson stated in a statement that the Met had received significant material related to media reports.
Detectives have reviewed all the information and found that it doesn’t provide any evidence to support a violation of the Health Protection Regulations. Instead, the report refutes media claims.
“The Met also knows of an event at Matthew Parker Street SW1 on the 14th December 2020.
“Officers will contact two individuals who were there to discuss alleged violations of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations.
Some have criticized the Met for not taking action on alleged gatherings at Downing Street. The Met announced that it would interview two people who attended the Tory Party Headquarters lockdown-busting party.
The Met will not open an investigation at this stage, in line with its policy of not investigating breaches of regulations when reported after the fact.
Last night’s interview with Dan Wootton from MailOnline, Bailey apologized for his attendance at the party. He called it a’mistake of judgment’.
However, he insisted that the group was “in a workplace Bubble” and that he was just there to get paperwork.
Although he claimed that he was there only to take the picture, he said that he regrets not having told his coworkers about their ‘going too far’.
GB News was told by him that ‘I want to apologize, regardless of what happened, it was an error in judgment.’
“I would like to have that. A young team had worked hard over months and when I returned from an event, I found them all ready and waiting for me. After speaking with them, we made the famous photo.
It was my mistake. That’s all I want.
“The other thing I want to mention is that although we lived in a bubble at work, our co-workers were working well together. It felt very natural.
According to a spokesperson for the Conservative Party, “Senior CCHQ personnel became aware that there was an illegal social gathering taking place in basement.” [CCHQ]The Bailey Campaign organized the event on 14 December.
“Formal disciplinary action has been taken against the four CCHQ personnel who were seconded in the Bailey campaign.”