SCOTLAND Yard have today handed down 24 fines for a lockdown-breaking Christmas party at Conservative HQ.
An investigation was launched after video emerged of activists dancing at the notorious “jingle and mingle” bash.
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The attendees – working on Shaun Bailey’s unsuccessful London Mayoral campaign – held the festive do on December 14, 2020.
When pictures emerged the following year Lord Bailey – made a peer by Boris Johnson – stood down from a role on the London Assembly.
He apologised “unreservedly” for the event organised by his campaign team, and said it was a “serious error of judgment”.
At the time of the event London was under Tier-2 restrictions which banned indoor socialising between people from different households.
A police statement today said: “The Met has now concluded one of its investigations into a number of potential breaches of the Covid regulations opened in July 2023.
“The first was a re-opening of the investigation concerning an event in Matthew Parker Street on 14 December 2020 following new evidence being made available to officers.
“Having assessed that new evidence the Met has made 24 referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to the ACRO Criminal Records Office for breaches of Covid-19 regulations.
“The second investigation related to a gathering in Parliament at an event on 8 December 2020 continues.”
The December 8 gathering, said to have been arranged by Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing, was cited by Mr Johnson in a scathing statement accusing Sir Bernard Jenkin of “monstrous hypocrisy” for allegedly attending the event before sitting on the cross-party panel which found the former prime minister had lied to MPs with his partygate denials.
