Jul 4, 2023 at 5:28pm BST
Updated 6 minutes ago
Image source: Daily Mirror
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The Daily Mirror had previously received and published stills from the same party
The Metropolitan Police reopen an investigation into breaches of Covid regulations at a Christmas gathering at Conservative Party headquarters.
A video of the event, where helpers were invited to ‘jingle and mix’, was published by the Sunday Mirror.
Police say they will not investigate suspected gatherings at the Prime Minister’s country home, Checkers, during Boris Johnson’s tenure.
But now they are also investigating an incident in Parliament on December 8, 2020.
Conservative backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin was involved in the event, according to Guido Fawkes’ website.
Sir Bernard sits on the Commons Privileges Committee, which published a highly critical report on Mr Johnson last month.
He told the BBC it was not appropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.
Conservative MP Virginia Crosbie apologized for attending the event while Covid restrictions were in place.
The Ynys Mon MP confirmed the event had taken place but said she had not sent out invitations.
The Met Police investigated the December 2020 party at Tory headquarters last year after an image emerged showing former London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey and Tory aides raising glasses alongside buffet food during the indoor social gathering in was forbidden in the area.
In November, the Met said it would take no further action against Mr Bailey or the others pictured.
They have now said they are reopening their investigation as the video released by the Mirror had not previously been made available to officers.
An invitation to the meeting, seen by the BBC, invited people to a “Jingle and Mingle” party.
Mr Bailey – who was given a seat in the House of Lords on Mr Johnson’s resignation list – previously said he had apologized “unreservedly” for the incident, which “turned into something” after he left.
He claimed he was “very upset by the video” as he had “never seen it before.”
The Liberal Democrats said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should bar Mr Bailey from “taking his seat as a peer while this inquiry is ongoing”.
Meanwhile, the Met Police and Thames Valley Police said they would not be investigating possible rule breaches in Downing Street and Checkers between June 2020 and May 2021.
In May, the armed forces said they were evaluating information handed to them by Cabinet Office officials following a review of Mr Johnson’s official diary, as part of the preparations for the Covid inquiry.
Thames Valley Police were investigating visits by Mr Johnson’s family and friends to Checkers – the Prime Minister’s country home in Buckinghamshire – during the pandemic.
The Met looked into possible further rule violations at Downing Street.
In a statement jointly issued on Tuesday, the armed forces said that after “further clarifying” the diary entries, they concluded that the events “did not meet the retrospective criteria for opening an investigation.”
When news of his transfer broke, Mr Johnson denied there had been any Covid violations at the events and said the Cabinet Office’s actions had “all the hallmarks” of “politically motivated intrigue”.
The Cabinet Office said at the time that the material it had passed on to the police came from the “normal” process of reviewing documents.
Former Prime Minister Johnson resigned as MP last month after a House of Commons committee accused him of misleading Parliament about various events at Downing Street during the pandemic.
The BBC has asked him for a new comment.