No fines for Tory lockdown party in parliament, Met Police says

It was claimed deputy speaker Eleanor Laing held a birthday celebration for two Tory MPs in her Commons office despite rules preventing social mixing between households indoors

The Metropolitan Police has closed its investigation into a lockdown birthday party in Parliament and issued no fines, it has said.

The event was said to have been arranged by Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing to celebrate the birthdays of Tory MP Virginia Crosbie and peer Baroness Jenkin while London was in Tier 2 measures that restricted indoor socialising.

It was cited by Boris Johnson in a statement accusing Tory MP 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.

Our approach to the assessment of these allegations has been consistent throughout. The individuals affected have been told there will be no further action

Metropolitan Police

The Met said officers “assessed the available information and concluded it did not meet the threshold for the referral of any fixed penalty notices” and that there would be no further action.

It had already been confirmed by a spokesperson for the Commons Speaker’s Office that Dame Eleanor did not receive a fixed penalty notice from police regarding that event.

Ms Crosbie had also said she did not receive a penalty from the Met over the event.

She previously apologised, saying: “The invitation for this event was not sent out by me. I attended the event briefly, I did not drink and I did not celebrate my birthday.

“I went home shortly after to be with my family. I apologise unreservedly for a momentary error of judgment in attending the event.”

This now concludes all assessments or investigations by the Met into alleged breaches of Covid regulations

Metropolitan Police

It brings to an end the force’s investigations into alleged breaches of Covid regulations, which previously led to fixed penalty notices for Mr Johnson and then-chancellor Rishi Sunak over a gathering for the former prime minister’s 56th birthday.

In a statement, the Met said: “Our approach to the assessment of these allegations has been consistent throughout. The individuals affected have been told there will be no further action.

“This now concludes all assessments or investigations by the Met into alleged breaches of Covid regulations.”

Dame Eleanor and Ms Crosbie remain under investigation by the Commons standards watchdog over whether rules for MPs were broken.