Johnson Referred To Police Over New Claims Of Covid Rule Breach

Evidence of events at Chequers found in the former PM's official diary

- Pippa Crerar & Aubrey Allegretti

Boris Johnson has been referred to police by the Cabinet Office over claims he broke lockdown rules by hosting family and friends at Chequers during the Covid pandemic.

The visits to the former prime minister’s grace-and-favour residence were found in his official diary by his government-funded lawyers as they prepared his defence for the public inquiry into the pandemic.

They raised the issue with senior officials in the Cabinet Office, who referred the matter to police as they were obliged to do under the civil service code, and to the privileges committee, which is investigating whether Johnson lied to the Commons over Partygate.

The former prime minister, who quit in July last year in large part due to the revelations of a string of lockdown-breaking gatherings at Downing Street that became known as the Partygate scandal, has written to the Cabinet Office denying breaking strict lockdown rules.

His team called the referral a “clearly politically motivated attempt to manufacture something out of nothing”. However, the development, revealed by The Times, puts further pressure on Johnson, who remains an MP and is fighting for his political career. The Metropolitan and Thames Valley police forces have confirmed they are considering the evidence of potential lockdown breaches between June 2020 and May 2021 at Chequers in Buckinghamshire.