UK police investigate Downing Street parties | DW News

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been under pressure over the lockdown party allegations since before Christmas.

The London Metropolitan Police force on Tuesday said it would investigate a series of events held at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street offices during strict coronavirus lockdowns.

The criminal probe follows allegations surrounding Downing Street parties that the police force had previously declined investigating.

Cressida Dick, the head of the Metropolitan Police, revealed the decision had been taken partly as a result of information passed to police from a Cabinet Office inquiry being carried out by the UK Civil Service. The investigation had also been launched because of officers' own assessments, Dick said.

"I can confirm that the Met is now investigating a number of events that took place at Downing Street and Whitehall in the last two years in relation to potential breaches of COVID-19 regulations," Dick told a Greater London Assembly meeting.

She said police had waited to start an investigation because it would "not normally be a proportionate use of officers time" to probe allegations that surfaced so long after they were said to have taken place.

One of the parties — a birthday celebration for Johnson himself — allegedly took place during the first COVID-19 lockdown in June 2020. At that time, social gatherings indoors were banned.

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