London police to investigate Downing Street parties during lockdown, raising stakes for Boris Johnson

In remarks at London city hall she promised the police would investigate “without fear or favor,” adding that “I absolutely understand that there is deep public concern about the allegations that have been in the media over the past several weeks.”

These parties pose a significant threat to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s premiership and government.

The prime minister is facing a rebellion in his own Conservative Party by lawmakers upset over what they see as reckless hypocrisy. The opposition Labour Party has said the parties show that Johnson and his staff ignored rules that they imposed on the British people.

Social media posts by ordinary citizens have recalled the heartbreak of forgoing weddings, birthdays, funerals and visits to hospitals because of the government’s lockdown rules.

The police commissioner said that her officers would usually not investigate retrospective breaches of lockdown rules, but Dick said police would pursue the potentially most serious cases.

The news that police will investigate comes just hours after a British broadcaster on Monday reported that yet another alleged “bash” occurred at 10 Downing Street during strict lockdown, this one to celebrate Johnson’s birthday in June 2020, at a time when rules designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus forbade indoor social gatherings.

ITV News also said that on the evening of the same day, June 19, 2020, Johnson hosted family and friends upstairs in the prime minister’s residence, another breach of the government’s own orders.

Johnson is awaiting an investigative report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into the string of allegations about garden parties, “bring your own booze” celebrations and basement “blowouts” at 10 Downing Street, which like the White House, serves as both office and residence for the country’s leader.

What happens now to the Sue Gray report, as its come to be known, is unclear. Gray has turned over material to the police, the 10 Downing Street spokesman said.

Her report — or a summary of it — was expected to be published this week. But with an active criminal investigation into alleged parties now underway, it is likely that Gray “pauses” some lines of her inquiry and only deals with those not under police investigation.

The Metropolitan Police chief said she will report on the investigation as it proceeds. But it also limits what Johnson, his cabinet and spokespeople can say publicly as the matter in now in police hands.

Johnson earlier this month apologized to the British public for attending one garden party, briefly. Downing Street has maintained that other gatherings were work events.

As for the latest allegations about the birthday bash, a Downing Street spokesperson told The Washington Post on Monday night that staff members “gathered briefly in the Cabinet Room after a meeting to wish the prime minister a happy birthday. He was there for less than 10 minutes.”

ITV News said it was a surprise party, with cake and singing, attended by 30 people and organized by the prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson.

As for the alleged evening party, the same Downing Street spokesperson said: “This is totally untrue. In line with the rules at the time, the prime minister hosted a small number of family members outside that evening.”

The British transport secretary, Grant Shapps, speaking for the government to Sky News on Tuesday, said, “the prime minister clearly didn’t organize to be given a cake ... Some people came forward and thought it would be appropriate for his birthday.”

Shapps called the caking “unwise, I’m sure, given the circumstances as we know them.”

At that point in the pandemic, although many restrictions were in place, Johnson was being bullish about Britain’s trajectory. On June 19, he visited a school to promote that “schools are safe.” He had reopened nonessential shops in England earlier that week. And days later, he would announce a further relaxation of rules, declaring that “our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end.”

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‘Bring your own booze!’ Another party at Downing Street creates big headache for Boris Johnson.