Officials under police investigation over lockdown breaches in Downing Street have expressed frustration after it emerged that Boris Johnson has not yet received a questionnaire for at least one key leaving do. Amid growing anger at what one official branded a “scattergun approach” by Scotland Yard – including different people being sent questionnaires two months apart for the same event – the Metropolitan police are expected to make an announcement soon after the local elections, with expectations of further Partygate fines. The prime minister said on Tuesday he had not been contacted by the Met about a leaving party for his former spin doctor Lee Cain in November 2020. Sources said Met questionnaires, which can be a precursor to a fixed-penalty notice (FPN), had been sent to other people who attended. Johnson gave a speech and poured drinks at the leaving event for Cain on 13 November, according to those present, despite it being during a stay-at-home Covid lockdown. Police are also investigating an alleged party on the same night, held at the flat the prime minister shares with his wife, Carrie Johnson. Sources claim the event was to celebrate the departure of Cain and Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
The prime minister has so far received one FPN, for attending a birthday gathering at No 10 in June 2020 for what he said was a matter of minutes, demonstrating that police deemed this crossed the threshold for breaking the law. Scotland Yard’s approach to the Partygate investigation, Operation Hillman, has also frustrated MPs. “The Met have blundered from the beginning, abdicating responsibility to [the senior civil servant] Sue Gray and then inserting themselves back into the narrative at just the moment we were approaching a resolution,” one MP said. “Given the seriousness of the potential findings, the Met really must set out a sensible timetable for bringing their investigation to a conclusion.” Junior Downing Street staffers, who have received multiple questionnaires already from the Met, say there is significant disquiet about why Johnson has not been investigated over the same events, and the way the inquiry has been conducted. “It feels there has been significant consideration about how to cause the least political impact – when someone is being investigated for a criminal offence,” an ex-official said. “How is this allowed to happen?” Another said it was “disgraceful how police are stringing this out, it’s a scandal of historic proportions”. A Whitehall source brought up how the investigation had affected others who attended gatherings, including the civil servant Kate Josephs who has taken leave from a new role at Sheffield city council after her December 2020 Cabinet Office leaving party was identified as a lockdown breach. One complication raised by a Whitehall source was the fact that police inquiries began with evidence gathered by Gray, the civil servant initially given the task of looking into alleged wrongdoing.
She is believed to have gathered some details of events by speaking to a handful of attenders who volunteered information. Some officials who played relatively minor roles in gatherings now faced police action after assisting Gray, whereas others whose offences were arguably greater had not been contacted by officers. Asked by Times Radio on Tuesday whether he had received a Met questionnaire about the November 2020 leaving party, Johnson said: “I am not commenting on this stuff generally, but the answer to that is no, not so far, or certainly not to my knowledge. All of this will become clear with the end of the investigation.” Johnson has been fined – along with Carrie Johnson and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak – over his birthday cake gathering. However, he does not appear to have been fined over a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden in May 2020, for which others have been fined. In January, Johnson admitted attending the event – held during the first national lockdown when indoor and outdoor social mixing were banned – for about 25 minutes but claimed he “believed implicitly that this was a work event”. His principal private secretary at the time, Martin Reynolds, is said to have invited up to 100 people to the “socially distanced” evening drinks. Officials involved in the gatherings under investigation believe it is likely that Johnson will get another two fines – one for Cain’s leaving do and another for the flat party on the same evening. However, Johnson is reported to be convinced he will not receive any further fines. The Met did not respond to requests for comment.