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Police investigate Boris Johnson again for allegedly breaking lockdown rules

2023-05-23T23:19:03.931Z

Highlights: The then prime minister and his wife hosted family and friends in Downing Street and at Chequers, the official rest residence, during the pandemic. London's Metropolitan Police, known around the world as Scotland Yard, must confirm again whether Boris Johnson broke lockdown rules. The former prime minister is currently under investigation in the Ethics and Privileges committee of the British Parliament for alleged perjury. Johnson's allies, from anonymity, have denounced this new investigation as a maneuver to end the career of the popular politician.


The then prime minister and his wife hosted family and friends in Downing Street and at Chequers, the official rest residence, during the pandemic


London's Metropolitan Police, known around the world as Scotland Yard, must confirm again whether Boris Johnson broke lockdown rules imposed during the pandemic. The former prime minister is currently under investigation in the Ethics and Privileges committee of the British Parliament for alleged perjury: for having lied or concealed the truth, in his appearances before the House of Commons, about his knowledge of the banned parties in Downing Street during the lockdown.

Paradoxically, it has been the very lawyers who defend Johnson in the commission – financed by the current Government of Rishi Sunak – who have raised the alarm. When preparing the defense of the former prime minister they reviewed the official diaries of his mandate and found that visits had been recorded by family and friends of Johnson and his wife, Carrie, both to Downing Street and to Chequers, the rest residence at the disposal of the head of the British Government. Obliged by law to warn of a possible criminal offense, the lawyers passed the information to the Cabinet Office, something similar to the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, as central coordinator of the activity of the prime minister and the entire government. Senior officials in the office in turn passed the information on to the Metropolitan Police and the Thames Valley Police, the two security departments under whose jurisdiction Johnson's alleged breaches would be.

"During the process of preparing evidence that was to be submitted for consideration by the Covid inquiry [conducted by the parliamentary committee] new information emerged," a spokesperson for the office said. "In accordance with the obligations established by the civil service code [senior officials], such material has been sent to the relevant authorities and the matter is exclusively their responsibility."

Johnson's lawyers, while transmitting the information to senior officials – first revealed by The Times newspaper – wanted to make clear in writing their consideration that "the events referred to had been in accordance with the law and did not imply any breach of the regulations imposed as a result of covid-19", as explained by a spokesman for the former prime minister. Neither Downing Street nor any of the current government ministers were informed before the matter was handed over to the police. Scotland Yard has assured in a statement that it was "currently assessing" the information received on May 19, which "refers to potential breaches of health protection rules between June 2020 and May 2021 in Downing Street. In turn, the Thames Valley Police has assured The Times that it had "received information of potential breaches of the regulations", also on the same dates, but at the residence of Chequers.

Johnson's allies, from anonymity, have denounced this new investigation as a maneuver to end the career of the popular politician. If the parliamentary committee imposed a suspension on the former prime minister as an MP of more than 10 days, it would automatically lead to the calling of local elections for the constituency of Uxbridge, which Johnson currently represents. In all likelihood, the local conservative group would not elect him again as a candidate and would give a mortal and definitive blow to a race that Johnson has not yet given up resurrecting in the medium term.

The so-called partygate – the scandal of the parties with alcohol in Downing Street during the lockdown – was a fundamental factor in the resignation and fall from grace of Johnson, who became the prime minister convicted of breaking the law during his mandate. Both he and his wife Carrie, and the then Minister of Economy, Rishi Sunak, were fined for participating in June 2020 in the birthday party in honor of Johnson himself. More than eighty members of the then prime minister's team suffered the same fate. The Metropolitan Police issued 126 fines.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-05-23

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