Police asked to reopen probe into Downing Street Partygate after podcast

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Police asked to reopen probe into Downing Street Partygate after podcast

Following the release of a podcast that raised questions about the force's initial inquiry, the Metropolitan Police has been asked to reopen its investigation into the Downing Street Partygate scandal.

The deputy chairman of the London Assembly police and crime committee, Mark Rowley, wrote to the Met commissioner, Mark Rowley, asking if he was taking new information into account when making a decision regarding the reopening of the investigation into the Downing Street lock-down parties.

The revelations include allegations that Downing Street staff corroborated their stories before filling out the Met's questionnaires into lock-down parties and that Number 10 officials deliberately destroyed evidence of partying before the force and a separate Cabinet Office inquiry by Sue Gray.

The findings also include allegations that Boris Johnson joked to Downing Street staff that this is the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now while attending a leaving do at Number 10.

In his letter to Rowley, Unmesh Desai, deputy chair of the committee that oversees the Met's office for policing and crime, said that you will be aware of the new evidence that contradicts the former prime minister's claim that he was not aware of any rule breaking at 10 Downing Street. There are reports of evidence of rule breaking being destroyed by staffers. The Met closed its investigation into Downing Street parties last May after informing Johnson that he had received a 50 fixed penalty notice from the previous month for flouting Covid laws at his birthday party in Downing Street in June 2020.

During its inquiry, the Met issued 126 fines to 83 people for events on eight different dates.

Johnson is due to appear next month before the Parliament's privileges committee, which is looking into whether he misled MPs about law-breaking parties during the Covid epidemic.

In the letter Desai adds that the MPS Metropolitan Police Service approached the investigation with a clear inconsistency in the way in which he was issued one fixed penalty notice for his birthday party, but not for the other events, including leaving drinks where there is photographic evidence of him holding a glass of champagne and making a toast.

It has been reported that the police's questionnaires sent by the police to those under investigation were easily navigated by staffers at 10 Downing Street, who were able to corroborate stories. The revelation follows reports last week that the National Audit Office spent 220,000 taxpayers money to fund Johnson's legal defence for the inquiry into his Partygate denials.

Johnson's declared income last September stands at almost 4.8 m, including an advance payment of nearly 2.5 m for speaking events, was revealed last week.