Downing Street parties: Police issued more than 100 fines

“Bring your own wine”: There were always parties in Downing Street during the lockdown. Now the police has issued more fines. Premier Johnson should not be affected again.

Due to the “PartyGate” case regarding the lockdown ceremony in the British seat of government, London Police have now issued more than 100 penalties against participants. The Metropolitan Police made the announcement. The number of fines has increased by about 50 as compared to the last notification of exactly one month ago.

The police announced that they would continue their investigation. In all, there are a dozen Downing Street lockdown parties in 2020 and 2021. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to have been involved in some. This reportedly included office parties, in which attendees were asked to bring their own wine (“bring your own wine”), and Wine Time Friday, which was organized by PM staff.

surprise party in the office

The police do not identify the recipients of the fines. However, Johnson told that he was not a part of it again. As the PA news agency reported without citing sources, he is yet to pay any further fines.

Most recently, on 12 April, police in the British capital fined “over 50” for the “Partygate” scandal that also struck British Prime Minister Johnson, his wife Carrie and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak. All three were accused of attending a surprise celebration of Johnson’s 56th birthday on June 19, 2020.

Tory punished in election

Johnson apologized for this. However, he insisted that it “did not occur to him” that the gathering, which lasted less than ten minutes, was a party. The fine made him the first British prime minister in history to have broken the law while in office.

In 2020 and 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Great Britain had strict contact restrictions that Johnson’s government itself had issued. The revelations of partying during the lockdown caused much anger among the ruling conservatives of the British public. The Tories lost important capital districts in regional elections last week.

two investigations underway

Top official Sue Gray is leading a separate investigation into government parties. In a preliminary report on the gatherings, which were not the subject of a criminal investigation by the police, she said that poor leadership and poor judgment enabled incidents that should not have happened. In addition, a parliamentary committee is currently investigating whether Johnson lied to parliament on the matter.