Boris Johnson has handed in his Partygate police questionnaire – what happens now?

If the prime minister gets fined there could be more pressure from his party for him to go, writes Jon Stone

On the money: No 10 said Boris Johnson has handed in his Met Police questionnaire (PA)

Boris Johnson has filled in and handed back a police questionnaire about No 10 lockdown parties, Downing Street has said. Around 50 members of No 10 staff were also asked by the Metropolitan Police to fill in a questionnaire about Partygate. So what happens next?

Once all the questionnaires have been received, police are expected to assess whether answers provided will mean any respondents can avoid being issued with a fixed penalty notice. Those without a good excuse are expected to be fined. But the process of sorting through the evidence, including the questionnaires, is expected to take days or weeks.

How much people are fined will depend on how many events they attended. A first offence could get one of the rule-breakers a £100 fine, while a second offence will see the fine increase to £200. After this, fines double for every next offence, hitting a cap of £6,400.

Downing Street said the public will be told if the prime minister has been fined. Once this process has been completed, it seems like there would be no reason not to publish Sue Gray’s Partygate report in full. The senior civil servant had originally been asked not to publish the entire report to avoid prejudicing a police investigation, although No 10 has said it could still keep the Partygate evidence secret.

If the prime minister is fined, he could face more pressure to go from his party. So far, some 15 Conservative MPs have said he should quit and more are thought to have privately lodged letters of no confidence with party authorities. In total, 54 letters must be sent to trigger a no-confidence vote, which Boris Johnson would need to lose if he were to face a leadership contest.