Met Police will start handing out 20 fines for Downing Street parties during lockdown today

SCOTLAND Yard will today hand out the first 20 fines in their probe of Downing Street parties during lockdown.

The Met did not name who is being slapped with £200 fixed penalty notices – but warned more will likely be dished out in the coming weeks.


Boris Johnson has promised to fess up if he is stung with a fine, although has repeatedly denied breaking the law.

Today's development is the first official confirmation that senior figures in government flouted Covid rules during lockdown.

After trawling through a cache of docs and pics, cops working on Operation Hillman said they had enough evidence to recommend the first wave of fines to ACRO, the criminal records office.

A statement from the Yard said: "We will today initially begin to refer 20 fixed penalty notices to be issued for breaches of Covid-19 regulations."

Police are investigating a whopping 12 separate parties and get togethers in 2020 and 2021.

READ MORE ON BORIS JOHNSON

PM ‘on our side’ & helping Ukraine far more than ‘afraid’ Macron says Zelensky

Boris Johnson could sack Priti Patel after losing grip of Channel migrant crisis

No10 aides and top civil servants are accused of flouting Covid rules to down booze, tuck into cheese and play party games in the Downing Street offices.

The Met said it is "making every effort to progress this investigation at speed and have completed a number of assessments."

But they revealed they are still trawling through the hundreds of pages of evidence to see if more fines need to be issued.

They warned: "Further referrals may be made to ACRO if the evidential threshold is made."

Although the PM has vowed to tell the public if he is fined, other No10 staff will not be named.

And the Met is also refusing to confirm how many fines have been issued from each individual event.

Although the war in Ukraine has eclipsed domestic politics, the development will drag Partygate back into the public spotlight.

The scandal plunged Mr Johnson’s premiership into crisis and sparked frenzied speculation he could face a leadership challenge.

Whitehall ethics enforcer Sue Gray attacked the “failure of leadership” in Downing Street in her damning – although partially redacted – Partygate report.

We pay for your stories!

Do you have a story for The Sun news desk?

Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours

Click here to get The Sun newspaper delivered for FREE for the next six weeks.

    Source: Read Full Article

    Previous post Ukrainian woman gang-raped by drunk Russian soldiers as her son wept
    Next post Kate Lawler praised for putting family first after quitting Virgin Radio job