Rishi Sunak news – live: Met Police open fresh inquiries into two more Partygate allegations

Under hostile attack from the liaison committee, Sunak embodied a new, unpatented emoji: doomed prime minister face, writes Sean O’Grady.

When the long-awaited report into Boris Johnson’s lockdown lies about Partygate was published, his resignation as an MP appeared a lot less shocking.

The former prime minister had seen an early copy of the report, which concluded he had lied to MPs on an “unprecedented” scale. Had Mr Johnson stayed on as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he would have faced a 90-day suspension from parliament – more than enough to trigger a tough by-election in the constituency.

The report also recommended Mr Johnson be stripped of a pass for former MPs, effectively barring him from the parliamentary estate.

Click below to read about the five lies that led to Mr Johnson’s downfall.

A former Downing Street official who worked throughout the Covid crisis has revealed the true scale of the drunken debauchery under Boris Johnson – with No 10 parties so wild that staff passed out on the stairway.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, the whistleblower said the details in the Partygate report were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the raucous drinking culture and blatant rule-breaking throughout the pandemic.

They revealed that Mr Johnson was “happy” to have his staff drinking and oversaw a culture of endemic rule-breaking so widespread that it put No 10 at odds with the rest of the country.

Adam Forrest reports:

Shaun Bailey apologised “unreservedly” after a video emerged of his Tory campaign team drinking and dancing at a gathering during lockdown in December 2020.

At the time, lockdown rules meant that six people were allowed to meet socially distanced outside.

The video emerged after the former London mayoral candidate was offered a peerage by former prime minister Boris Johnson, who was found by the Privileges Committee to have misled Parliament over parties at Downing Street during Covid lockdowns.

Mr Bailey said the event “obviously turned into something once I left and I didn’t realise that.”

Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg are among eight senior Tories who attempted to undermine the work of the Privileges Committee as it investigated Boris Johnson, a fresh Partygate report has found.

In a damning annex to its original report, the MPs spelled out a series of the most “disturbing” attacks on its inquiry into Mr Johnson’s lies to Parliament.

Seven MPs, and one peer, are named in the report, which accused them of being part of an “unprecedented and coordinated” campaign to undermine the House of Commons.

Archie Mitchell reports:

The Met Police has announced it will not take any further action against Boris Johnson for lockdown breaches.

Scotland Yard reopened its investigation into potential Covid regulation breaches during an event at Conservative Campaign Headquarters in December 2020 and has launched a new probe into a gathering in Parliament during the same month.

However, police said a “number of other events” at Downing Street and the prime minister’s country residence Chequers, which were believed to involve Mr Johnson in 2020 and 2021, would not be probed further.

Officers assessed official diary entries that were passed to the Met by the Cabinet Office ahead of the Covid public inquiry, in a move attacked by Mr Johnson’s allies.

At the time, a statement from the former prime minister’s office said his lawyers had written to police to “explain in detail why the Cabinet Office is entirely wrong in its assertions”.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Based on an assessment of that material and an account provided regarding the diary entries, and also having sought some further clarification, the Met and Thames Valley Police have each assessed the events in their jurisdiction and concluded that they do not meet the retrospective criteria for opening an investigation.”

The Metropolitan Police said it has reopened its investigation into potential Covid regulation breaches during an event at Conservative Campaign Headquarters in December 2020.

Scotland Yard said that after assessing new evidence including a video, it was re-investigating a “Jingle and Mingle” Christmas party held at the Conservative Party’s campaign headquarters on 14 December 2020.

It comes after a video emerged appearing to show Tory staff drinking, dancing and joking about “bending” Covid lockdown rules.

The video, said to have been taken on 14 December, 2020, when socialising inside was banned in parts of the UK, showed for the first time, staff joking about their Christmas party at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) in London breaking the rules, according to The Mirror.

The party was organised by the campaign team behind Shaun Bailey’s ultimately failed bid to become mayor of London and “formal disciplinary action” was taken against four staff members over the “unauthorised” event.

The party was organised by the campaign team behind Shaun Bailey’s ultimately failed bid to become mayor of London and “formal disciplinary action” was taken against four staff members over the “unauthorised” event.

One attendee in the footage could be heard saying: “As long as we don’t stream that we’re like, bending the rules,” before laughing, while a man and woman hold hands and dance.

At least 24 guests were reportedly at the gathering which was held just a few days before Mr Johnson’s 19 December announcement that Tier 4 Covid curbs would be implemented. This put London and the southeast of England under severe restrictions which meant many could not see their families on Christmas Day.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” he said just five days after the party.

Deputy Commons speaker Dame Eleanor Laing will not be stepping down while the Partygate investigation continues, Sky News reported.

The Met Police announced it was launching a probe into “potential breaches” of Covid rules at a gathering inside parliament on 8 December 2020, the date of an alleged drinks event held at the Commons office of Dame Eleanor, and attended by Tory grandee Sir Bernard Jenkin for his wife’s birthday.

Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin has been in Parliament since 1992.

A veteran Tory Eurosceptic and chairman of the powerful Liaison Committee, he was a critic of Mr Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher affair and is an often vocal voice from the backbenches.

Sir Bernard is alleged to have attended a drinks event in the Commons office of Dame Eleanor Laing, the deputy speaker, in December 2020.

The Metropolitan Police announced it was launching a probe into “potential breaches” of Covid rules at a gathering inside parliament on 8 December 2020.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson has previously accused Sir Bernard, the most senior Conservative member of the Commons Privileges Committee, of “monstrous hypocrisy” after the Guido Fawkes website reported the MP had gone to a drinks party in Parliament while Covid restrictions were in place on December 8.