Boris Johnson referred to police over contemporary claims of COVID lockdown rule breaking

Boris Johnson has been referred to the police by the Cabinet Office over new claims he broke COVID lockdown guidelines.

The former prime minister’s ministerial diary has revealed visits by pals to Chequers in the course of the pandemic.

The journeys to the grace-and-favour nation residence had been highlighted throughout preparations for a public inquiry into COVID.

Politics Live: Boris Johnson’s diary reveals pals visiting him at Chequers throughout lockdown

The Cabinet Office has handed considerations to the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police.

The privileges committee, which is investigating claims that Mr Johnson misled parliament over partygate, has additionally been knowledgeable, in line with The Times which first reported on the story.

The information has sparked requires Mr Johnson to step down as an MP.

But sources near him known as the referral “clearly politically motivated” and claimed the Cabinet Office didn’t give him any discover “so he could put forward the facts before the report was made”.

Mr Johnson has been suggested by attorneys that the occasions had been lawful.

A spokesperson for Mr Johnson mentioned: “Some abbreviated entries in Mr Johnson’s official diary were queried by Cabinet Office during preparation for the COVID Inquiry.

“Following an examination of the entries, Mr Johnson’s attorneys wrote to the Cabinet Office and Privileges Committee explaining that the occasions had been lawful and weren’t breaches of any COVID Regulations.”

Police are currently “assessing” concerns, but a formal investigation has not yet been launched.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police said the details were passed to them on May 19 and it relates “to potential breaches of the Health Protection Regulations between June 2020 and May 2021 at Downing Street”.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson mentioned: “Information came to light during the process of preparing evidence for submission to the COVID Inquiry.

“It was recognized as a part of the conventional disclosure overview of doubtless related paperwork being undertaken by the authorized crew for inquiry witnesses.

“In-line with obligations in the Civil Service Code, this material has been passed to the relevant authorities and it is now a matter for them.”

Johnson ‘ought to think about his place as MP’

The Liberal Democrats have known as for Mr Johnson to think about his place as an MP.

Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper mentioned: “It’s outrageous that rumours of alleged rule-breaking by Boris Johnson are still being drip fed to the public.

“The undeniable fact that it is one rule for them and one rule for the remainder of us nonetheless triggers a uncooked sense of injustice in hundreds of thousands of individuals.

“Sunak must make sure that not a single penny more of taxpayer money is spent on Johnson’s legal fund; and Johnson should finally do one decent thing and consider his position as an MP.”

However Ben Bradley, the Tory MP for Mansfield, mentioned the world “has moved on” from partygate.

He instructed Sky News: “My sense of all of this is that, frankly, the former prime minister has been through that, we’ve investigated that, the country’s dealt with that – I think the world’s moved on.”

The partygate scandal overshadowed the top of Boris Johnson’s premiership and performed a significant position in his downfall final yr.

Details of drunkenness, preventing and late evening events on the coronary heart of presidency whereas the nation lived below lockdown restrictions had been laid naked in a damning report by Sue Gray – who mentioned “senior leadership” should take accountability for a tradition of rule-breaking.

Its publication got here after the Met Police concluded its investigation into lockdown-breaking occasions in Downing Street and Whitehall, which resulted in 126 fines being issued for 83 individuals.

Mr Johnson acquired a kind of fines, for attending his personal party within the Cabinet room in Downing Street in June 2020.

He narrowly survived a confidence vote in June 2022 however was introduced down a month later over his dealing with of the Chris Pincher affair.

The privileges committee is now investigating whether or not Mr Johnson knowingly lied to parliament along with his repeated insistence that guidelines had been adopted always.

He might be suspended from the Commons and face a by-election in the event that they discover he purposefully misled the House.