No police probe into No 10 party breaches due to ‘lack of evidence'

POLICE will not investigate allegations that Downing Street staff broke Covid rules with a Christmas party – as Boris Johnson apologised and a senior aide was forced to quit over the scandal.

- Macer Hall and Sam Blewett

Scotland Yard has confirmed it will not “commence an investigation at this time” in line with a “policy not to investigate retrospective breaches”, despite looking at the claims and with leaked footage showing No 10 staff joking about it.

But the Metropolitan Police said it would consider any new evidence unearthed in an internal investigation.

The Prime Minister yesterday asked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to carry out a probe as he told MPs he was “furious” about the video.

Amid mounting public anger Allegra Stratton, Mr Johnson’s spokesperson, resigned after the footage emerged on Tuesday night.

It shows the former BBC and ITV journalist and other No 10 aides “seeming to make light of lockdown measures” just days after last year’s alleged party.

Attacks

The Met said it had received “a significant amount of correspondence” relating to the alleged rule-breaking, but said it did not “provide evidence of a breach”.

The Met added: “Based on the absence of evidence and in line with our policy not to investigate retrospective breaches, the Met will not commence an investigation at this time.