Sue Gray not told who to receive fines over attending lockdown parties
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London's Metropolitan police have joined Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the hot water he's been in for months over the Partygate scandal, with outrage over them not disclosing who was being fined over attending the gatherings.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Sue Gray, the civil servant charged with writing a report on the Partygate scandal that rocked the United Kingdom and showed that London was not practicing what it preached during the lockdown, has been left in the dark on the matter of which parties in Downing Street have merited fines, though officials have started receiving fines of a low £50 for attending the illegal gatherings.
Several attendees have received emails this week following a police announcement that the force was issuing 20 penalty notices to those who they had reasonable belief attended the gatherings as per the probe launched into the matter.
The Metropolitan police have refused to disclose which parties had been fined the whopping 50 pounds. Regardless of whether this information should be made public, London is refusing to inform the civil servant on the case, Gray, of who attracted the penalties.
The Guardian had reported that "the only people who will be named if fined are Johnson, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, who is also among those who filled in a police questionnaire about the alleged gatherings," and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.
The civil servant is due to update and publish her report when the Met concludes its investigation into the matter, though she, as well as Downing Street, will not be receiving information on which of the 12 parties under the microscope have been penalized.
No 10, however, has committed to disclosing whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson and cabinet secretary Simon Case have been fined as officials refraining from divulging that they had been fined because it could deal a serious blow to their reputation.
Their names are likely to become public if they, themselves, admit to having attended the illegal gatherings by owning up to what they have done or appealing against the fine.
The Labour party has taken on the offense once again, criticizing the lack of transparency from the Met as government sources say the police had only focused on parties where those involved had made their participation public or acknowledged it.
In a bid to curb the accusations, the Met claimed the fines were part of the "first tranche", insinuating that more could be issued later on.
PM Johnson is believed to have attended several gatherings and had even organized several himself, though he stressed that accepting a fine did not mean he broke the law. His allies also revealed that he would not resign were the Met to fine him.
On the other hand, Policing Minister Kit Malthouse backed Dominic Raab and Marie Trevelyan's view that the issuing of fines was evidence that the police believed the law had been broken.
The Partygate scandal is being used by the Tories to push Johnson out of office, with one MP noting that "if Johnson was to be fined, the threat of a no-confidence vote against the prime minister could resurface."
Jeremy Wright, a senior Conservative Party MP, had stressed that Boris Johnson should face "resignation or removal from office" if found guilty of breaches.
