25 January 2022
Greens have welcomed the announcement by the Metropolitan Police that they will investigate a number of events at No 10 and Whitehall because they appear to constitute “the most serious and flagrant type of breach” [1].
Green peer, Jenny Jones, who launched an official complaint into the failure of the police to investigate ‘Partygate’, said:
“I welcome this much delayed police investigation into rule breaking by the Prime Ministers’ Office. The decision, finally, to investigate Partygate suggests there were serious and flagrant breaches of the rules at the time.
“The Met Police should have started their investigation weeks ago when I launched an official complaint into their failure to enforce the law at Number 10 [2]. While other parties have kept their focus on Boris Johnson, Greens have been holding the police to account [2].
“The delay has damaged the reputation of the Met Police for impartiality and the timing of the announcement appears to have been used by Downing Street to delay the publication of the Sue Gray report, which we expected to be made public this week.
“I hope the Met will now look at the charge of “misconduct in public office” as this allows the use of search warrants and goes beyond what Sue Gray has been able to do. It would also be good to see the Met Police add other matters to their list of questions such as cash for peerages, the fast track scheme of PPE contracts and cash for access involving the decoration of the Downing Street flat.”
Notes
[3] Thousands of people signed a Green Party petition demanding the Metropolitan Police investigate the Downing Street parties: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/police-must-deliver-a-full-fair-and-independent-investigation-into-partygate
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