More than 50 people to face police questions on parties during lockdown in UK

More than 50 people must answer police questions about alleged parties in Downing Street and Whitehall that may have breached strict Covid rules, Scotland Yard has said, Report informs via The Guardian.

In a sign of the scale of the “partygate” criminal inquiry, the Metropolitan police revealed on Wednesday they would this week start contacting more than 50 people as part of “Operation Hillman”, an investigation into events on eight dates between May 2020 to April 2021.

Those identified by police – likely to include Downing Street staff and civil servants, and possibly including the British PM Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie, who are alleged to have attended events – will be sent a formal questionnaire with legal status, which asks recipients to give their account of the events.

Their response must be provided within seven days. The questionnaires will be reviewed by the Met’s special enquiries team, it is understood. If Covid regulations have been breached “without a reasonable excuse”, a fixed penalty notice (FPN) will normally be issued, with the paperwork first sent to ACRO, the criminal records office. Even if admissions are made by those contacted by police, a fine does not automatically follow, however.

It came as the Met said it would look again at a quiz held in No 10 in December 2020 after a new photo emerged of Boris Johnson at the event, featuring an open bottle of prosecco and staff wearing tinsel.

Johnson has denied he broke any law.