Boris Johnson will not face a further Partygate fine, says No 10

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been told he faces no further action after police closed their Partygate investigation, No 10 says.

Mr Johnson’s wife, Carrie, will also not receive a further fine.

They were both fined last month for breaking Covid laws at a birthday party for Mr Johnson in Downing Street in June 2020.

Metropolitan Police said the inquiry into lockdown breaches in and around Downing Street has now come to an end.

It resulted in a total of 126 fines, known as Fixed Penalty Notices, being issued for events across eight different dates.

In total 83 people have been issued with fines, the force added.

It had been widely expected that Mr Johnson, who reportedly attended up to six of the gatherings investigated, would be fined again.

The UK’s top civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, has been told he will not be fined, sources have told the BBC.

In December, Mr Case was forced to step aside from his role leading an inquiry into lockdown parties, after it emerged an event was held in his own office.

The ending of the police inquiry paves the way for the publication of the full report by senior civil servant Sue Gray, who took over the investigation into lockdown gatherings from Mr Case.

Mr Johnson also still faces investigation by a Commons committee over claims he misled Parliament about parties during lockdown.

Ms Gray’s full report is expected to be published next week. Opposition parties have demanded it is published as soon as possible.

An interim version of the report, published in late January, criticised “failures of leadership and judgement” in No 10 and the Cabinet Office.

Some Conservative MPs have previously said they are reserving judgement on Mr Johnson’s future until the final document is published.

The BBC is aware of about 20 Tory MPs who have called for a vote of confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership over the Partygate revelations.

Anger among Conservative MPs had long since mellowed, and will now ease further – for now.

But – we do still await the report from the senior civil servant Sue Gray, which could heap further political embarrassment upon Boris Johnson.

And remember, the questions still remain for the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

He’s waiting the outcome of an investigation by Durham Police. He and his lawyers are as sure as they can be he’ll be cleared.

But they can’t be certain.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the number of fines showed there had been “industrial-scale lawbreaking in Downing Street”.

He added that his opinion of the prime minister had not changed and that “of course he should resign”.

A separate inquiry, by Durham police, into whether Sir Keir broke Covid laws at a Labour campaign event in the city in 2021 remains ongoing.

Sir Keir has pledged he will quit as Labour leader if he receives a Fixed Penalty Notice over that event.

Lib Dem Sir Ed Davey said: “The full Sue Gray report should now be published without delay, and the parliamentary inquiry should be launched into Johnson’s lies.

“The public made huge sacrifices while Boris Johnson partied, they deserve the full truth.”

The end of the police inquiry means the prime minister has not been fined for a garden party in Downing Street he attended in May 2020, to which about 100 people were invited.

The Met confirmed other people have been fined over their presence at this event.

Mr Johnson has previously apologised for attending the garden party for 25 minutes. He said he had “believed implicitly” it was a work event.

The gatherings that resulted in fines took place between May 2020 and April 2021, with different Covid rules in place at different times.

Acting Met Police Deputy Commissioner Helen Ball said whether an event had taken place in “someone’s home” or not had been a factor in deciding whether to issue fines.

The Met said it would not be identifying any recipients of fines from its investigation, which had involved 12 detectives and cost £460,000.

The force added that officers had examined 510 photographs, as well as CCTV images, emails, logs of entries into buildings, diary entries and witness statements.

Police also examined 204 questionnaires from people who were at the events. There were no interviews under caution.