Partygate: Police interviewing 'witnesses' over alleged Downing Street Covid breaches

Police investigating alleged coronavirus-lockdown breaking gatherings in Downing Street have begun interviewing people in an escalation of their enquiries.

The Met Police issued an update and said officers were conducting interviews with people “as witnesses”.

It follows the force issuing 100 questionnaires regarding events in Westminster originally investigated by civil servant Sue Gray.

The Met said “key witnesses” have been questioned by detectives from the Operation Hillman investigation team.

The force said there had been no referrals to the ACRO Criminal Records Office for the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices but that each questionnaire response was being assessed alongside “all available evidence”.

Should the evidential threshold be met, then referrals would be made, the Met said.

Boris Johnson has come under significant scrutiny in recent months regarding lockdown-breaking gatherings held in Downing Street during the pandemic.

An investigation by the Met into 12 gatherings that were held across Government departments followed the publication of a heavily redacted report into the allegations.

Last week, Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed the row over allegations of Covid-lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street as trivial “fluff”.

But the anger over the gatherings was such that 15 Tory MPs publicly called for Johnson to quit.

However, the most promiment Conservative to call for the Prime Minister’s resignation, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, has withdrawn his letter to the 1922 Committee looking to trigger a no confidence vote.