London police to investigate alleged Downing Street lockdown parties

Britainrsquos embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on Tuesday facing fresh allegations in the ongoing ldquopartygaterdquo scandal as details emerged of a surprise 56th birthday cake ldquopartyrdquo organised for him at the peak of the first COVID lockdown in June 2020The scandal continues to spiral out ahead of an internal Cabinet Office inquiry report expected this week as Scotland Yard confirmed that the Metropolitan Police will investigate potential lockdown breaches related to alleged parties at Boris Johnsonrsquos officeresidence at 10 Downing Street as well as other government offices in LondonAs a result firstly of the information provided by the Cabinet Office inquiry team and secondly by the officers own assessment I can confirm that the Met is now investigating a number of events that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in the last two yearsrdquo Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee at the Mayor of Londons officeldquoI should stress that we are now investigating does not mean fixed penalty notices will necessarily be issued in every instance and to every person involved We will not be giving a running commentary on our current investigations but I can assure you we will give updates at significant points she saidEarlier Downing Street said Johnson who turned 56 on June 19 2020 was present at an event for less than 10 minutes as his staff gathered briefly to wish him a happy birthdayThe strict lockdown rules imposed at the time to contain the spread of coronavirus banned most indoor gatherings involving more than two people But lsquoITV Newsrsquo reported on Monday night that up to 30 people attended the event sang Happy Birthday and were served cakeThe event reportedly took place in the Cabinet Room of Downing Street just after 2 pm local time that day and had been arranged as a surprise for Johnson by his then fiancee and now wife Carrie Symonds after he returned from an official trip to a school in HertfordshireA group of staff working in Number 10 that day 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 a Number 10 Downing Street spokesperson saidThe ITV report also claimed that the same evening family friends were hosted upstairs in the Prime Ministers official residence in apparent breach of the rulesHowever Number 10 denied that claim 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 A number of his ministers spoke out in his defence even as the rebellion among backbench MPs continues to mountIt obviously was the Prime Ministerrsquos birthday hed been given a cake earlier in the day thats the picture in the newspapers UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told lsquoSky NewsrsquoldquoAnd he was clearly given a cake by staff when he got back to the office These are staff he would have been working with and was working with all day long and will have been many a time in the same room with them working on the response to coronavirus They come in give him a cake I understand I think it lasted for 10 minutes and that was it he saidThe minister reiterated that it was ultimately for Sue Gray the senior civil servant leading the Cabinet Office inquiry into all partygate allegations within government to decide whether this was appropriateI think we can be pretty clear that the Prime Minister didnt present the cake to himselfrdquo he addedUK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries in a tweet said So when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for 10 minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks this is now called a party But Opposition Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer repeated his call for Johnson to resign in the wake of the latest revelationsldquoThe Prime Minister is a national distraction and hes got to go he saidIt comes as Johnson meets his Cabinet for a regular weekly meeting on Tuesday amid the growing threat of war with President Putin in eastern Europe against the backdrop of the partygate scandalMeanwhile Sue Grays muchanticipated report into the scandal is expected by the end of this week and according to BBC reports she was already aware of the June 19 birthday eventA Conservative backbench rebellion against Boris Johnsonrsquos leadership is likely to continue intensifying until then A total of 54 Tory MPs must write letters of no confidence in Johnson as a leader to Sir Graham Brady chairman of the partyrsquos powerful backbench 1922 Committee to trigger a leadership contest Most are said to be waiting for the inquiry report to make up their mindsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever