The Metropolitan Police have been asked to launch an investigation into claims that more than 50 people attended a Christmas party at Downing Street during last year's lockdown.
In a letter to the force's commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, Labour MP Barry Gardiner said officers “should investigate the matter further to establish the facts and see if any laws might have been broken”.
The calls for an investigation came as Boris Johnson’s party celebrated holding onto their safe seat in the closely-watched Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election, despite the count showing a 10 per cent swing to Labour amid low voter turnout in the constituency previously held by former minister James Brokenshire, who died in October of lung cancer aged 53.
Labour’s Ellie Reeves also claimed it was a “remarkable result for us in a Tory stronghold” that if replicated at a general election would see Keir Starmer’s party “within reach of forming a majority government”, while Richard Tice of Reform UK – which came third – claimed the result showed his was now the only party “on the upward march”.
