Police Will Not be Investigating Christmas Party at No. 10

Police Will Not be Investigating Christmas Party at No. 10

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Allegra Stratton (left), ex-aide to Boris Johnson; Cressida Dick, head of the Met Police (right)

 

As more and more evidence comes to light surrounding the Downing Street Christmas party, public outrage has been mounting as The Metropolitan police has said that it will not investigate the events of that night.

In their statement, The Met has said that it has a policy of not retrospectively investigating alleged breaches of coronavirus laws. However, a policing source told The Guardian that “across the country there are currently investigations into alleged breaches dating back a similar amount of time [to the Downing Street party], where the alleged breach is enough to justify a retrospective investigation.”

The official statement given by the Met goes on to say that, “the correspondence and footage does not provide evidence of a breach of the Health Protection Regulations, but restates allegations made in the media.

“Based on the absence of evidence and in line with our policy not to investigate retrospective breaches of such regulations, the Met will not commence an investigation at this time.”

So yet again, it appears that it’s one set of rules for the British public and another for our politicians. However, the force have added that it was open to considering any further evidence unearthed in an internal investigation.

Former Met police chief Brian Paddick, now a Liberal Democrat peer, argued that “It is the police’s duty to investigate if there is reason to believe a crime has been committed. It’s a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether it’s in the public interest to prosecute, not the police.”

The Christmas party took place on 18 December 2020 when London was under Tier 3 restrictions, meaning all inside gatherings of two or more people were banned and work parties were prohibited. So while relatives were dying alone and families were separated on Christmas day, a source told the BBC that “No 10 staff drank, ate food and played party games until gone midnight.”

There are a number of issues when it comes to The Met’s decision not to investigate the Downing Street party and one of these obstacles is the police policy not to investigate Covid breaches its officers didn’t personally witness.

However, The Met have round the clock security detail at No. 10 and Downing Street, which includes logging all visitors in and out. So assuming that they did their job correctly then there were in fact witnesses to the rule-breaking.

So when police officers are quite literally stationed at the door of No. 10 but still stand by their statement of not seeing any illegal activity on the night of the party, then what on earth is the point of the Met police?

The most recent evidence of the night’s events comes in the form of a video obtained by ITV, showing the Prime Minister’s press-secretary, Allegra Stratton, just says after the party. Stratton is seen making jokes and laughing over how to describe the night saying, “This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced.”

Ms Stratton has since apologised for her actions in a tearful statement saying she would “regret the remarks for the rest of my days” and has resigned. In a rare occurrence, the PM has also apologised for the video.

Last night, Twitter was filled with comments of anger and disgust at the government’s actions and the Met’s decision not to investigate:

Reality TV star Shaughna Phillips tweeted:

Derry Girls actress Siobhan McSweeney tweeted, “People died. Gasping. Alone. I feel sick.”

While Labour MP Zarah Sultana amassed almost 80,000 likes with her simple tweet:

Over 70,000 people have been fined for illegal parties or gatherings under Covid regulations, so if you’re still left wondering whether our government and law enforcers are corrupt, remember that officers arrested women at a vigil for someone murdered by their colleagues but practically had a guest list for the Downing Street party and have done nothing.

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