The Labour Party has warned the government not to “hide” the names of anyone guilty and fined for breaking COVID-19 rules after attending parties in No. 10 Downing Street during lockdowns.
Already, the Prime Minister’s spokesman has refused to make any speculations on whether any potential punishment of Boris Johnson or official would be made public.
Again, the Metropolitan Police has so far, exempted itself from naming any wrongdoers.
But Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner said the public had a “right to know”.
Her call comes as Conservative MP, Peter Aldous, urges the Prime Minister to resign, saying this is in the “best interests of the country, the government and the Conservative Party”.
Fifty-four Tory (members of the Conservative Party in Great Britain) MPs must, like Mr Aldous is proposing, write to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee of Backbench MPs to trigger a vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson, and his potential leadership. But as it stands, it is unknown how many of them have done so.
Several Conservative MPs, in an interaction with the media, have said they are struggling to decide whether to back the Prime Minister or join in the huge calls for his resignation.
But Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab rejected critics who disagree with Mr Johnson, saying he had “taken responsibility” and “acted in good faith at all times”.
The Metropolitan Police is currently looking into the 12 gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall which took place during UK lockdown and COVID-19 restrictions.
Mr Johnson was at three of them [parties] and has refused to say whether he attended a fourth, an alleged party in his flat on November 13, 2020, the day his Senior Aide, Dominic Cummings left Number 10.
The Metropolitan said it would not identify anyone issued with a fixed-penalty notice over Downing Street parties, rather, it would reveal the total number of penalties issued for each identified event with an explanation on what they were issued for.
Sue Gray, the Senior Civil Servant whose initial report on gatherings held over the pandemic was published on Monday, January 31, 2022, handed over the details of her findings to the Metropolitan Police.
The Prime Minister has admitted attending three of the gatherings under investigation by the police:
The gatherings are Drinks in the No. 10 garden on May 20, 2020; A surprise birthday party for himself in the Cabinet Room on June 19, 2020, and a leaving party for senior aide Lee Cain on November 13, 2020.
As part of the UK’s policy for persons who broke the COVID-19 restrictions put in place, could face fixed-penalty notices or fines.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he would not “speculate” on whether the government would make details of Downing Street parties public, describing such a situation as “hypothetical”.
He added that the “important work” of the Metropolitan Police is to continue the unimpeded work and from there, would be more information “in the coming days” about Downing Street restructures.
However, Angela Rayner, one of the powerful women in the Labour Party, tweeted saying: “I can’t believe this needs saying. The public has a right to know if the prime minister is found to have committed an offence by the police.”
“Number 10 said they would publish the full [Gray] report. They cannot be allowed to backtrack or hide the results of the police investigation.”
Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner
In seeking expert opinion on the issue, the Law Society’s Criminal law Committee Chairman, Stuart Nolan, said there was no legal bar on the government to publicly release the details of those given fined-penalty notices.
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