Met Police to reopen ‘partygate’ probe into 2020 Christmas event

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London’s Metropolitan Police has announced that it will reopen one investigation and start another into “potential breaches” of Covid-19 restrictions in December 2020, in a return of the “partygate” probe that has troubled the Conservative party.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the police force said it had assessed “new material” relating to events over the period, including one it had previously investigated.

The force said that it was reopening the probe into events on December 14 2020 after “assessment of new evidence that was not previously provided to officers” — an apparent reference to a recently published video of a party held by former Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey.

“The receipt of video evidence has resulted in the Met revisiting and updating the assessment,” the statement said. 

It added that it was also opening an investigation into a gathering in parliament on 8 December 2020.

The Met’s previous investigation of breaches resulted in 126 fixed penalty notices being issued.

This is a developing story