Anger over the Partygate scandal has reignited after Scotland Yard confirmed it did not send questionnaires to Boris Johnson before deciding not to fine him for attending two Downing Street lockdown meetings.
Fines were issued to other meeting attendees in 2020, including one at No 10 on 13 November, where the Prime Minister gave an exit speech for his outgoing communications director, Lee Cain, and another at the cabinet office on December 17.
Downing Street has previously reported that Johnson did not receive police questionnaires relating to some lockdown events. But Monday’s revelation is believed to be the first time the Metropolitan Police has admitted it, according to details released as part of a legal challenge.
The Good Law Project (GLP), a not-for-profit campaign group which has brought a judicial review into allegations that the Met failed to fully investigate Johnson’s presence at the parties, said: “The Met’s actions have raised serious concerns about the deferential way in which those in power are policing.
“We do not believe the Met’s response is consistent with its statutory duty of candor. And we certainly do not believe it is consistent with what the Met has acknowledged elsewhere is its public duty to maintain public confidence in the police.”
The group is taking action in concert with Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat peer and former police officer.
In a document summarizing the Met’s response to the challenge, published by the GLP, the force said it could confirm no questionnaire had been sent to Johnson for the two meetings in 2020. It confirmed it sent one in regarding a meeting held on January 14, 2021.
Johnson was fined a single £50 in April for breaking Covid laws at a birthday party he threw for her in June 2020.
In its response to the LPG, Scotland Yard said investigating officers had examined hundreds of documents, including emails, diary entries, witness statements and CCTV footage.
Questionnaires were a useful part of the research, but if the answers were clear from other evidence, there was “little to be gained” from sending one to a particular person simply to confirm what was already known, and there was no duty to send them. one, it was called
The Met said Operation Hillman, the investigation into Partygate, had concluded and that it would not comment on action taken in the course of the investigation.
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There was an angry reaction from former officials involved in the police investigation, including one who pointed out that Rishi Sunak was given a fixed penalty notice for his presence at the end of Johnson’s birthday party, which he said that the chancellor then entered as he prepared for another meeting.
Jo Maugham, GLP director, said: “Johnson won’t be prime minister for much longer. But for me this is still about what it’s always been about: trust in the police and the state of law. Seventy-two percent of voters believe there is one law for the rich and one for the poor. Why isn’t the Met addressing that perception? Why aren’t they saying what happened?”
Number 10 declined to comment, referring inquiries to Scotland Yard.