Yard rejects new partygate inquiry as Gray report is finally out

Met 'risks losing the public's trust over partygate probe'

- Nicholas Cecil

SCOTLAND Yard today dismissed a request to re-examine its partygate probe as Westminster was braced for a high-octane report by senior civil servant Sue Gray to reignite the scandal. The Met Police said it would not "further investigate" a complaint from the Lib Dems into its inquiry after pictures emerged of Boris Johnson reportedly at a leaving party, drink in hand, on November 13, 2020, when England was in lockdown.

The Prime Minister was not fined for this event, receiving just the one fixed penalty notice for being at a surprise birthday party in June 2020.

The photos immediately sparked questions about the Met's investigation, with Mayor Sadiq Khan calling for it to explain the decisions on the issuing, or not, of fines. The Lib Dems wrote to the Independent Office for Police Conduct asking it to open an inquiry into the Met's Operation Hillman partygate probe.

The IOPC referred the request to Scotland Yard which dismissed the call, saying that under the Police Reform Act 2002 complaints would only be looked at if they came from "a person directly affected by police conduct, a person who was adversely affected by police conduct or a person who witnessed the conduct at first hand".

It added: "Any person who is aware of police conduct through a third party or, through a medium such as television, will neither be a witness, nor can they be adversely effected."

However, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper criticised the move and asked for the IOPC to take the exceptional step of launching its own inquiry.