The Partygate affair has dragged on for far too long already. 

It’s been nearly six months since it was revealed that lockdown rules in 10 Downing Street were ignored repeatedly and there were many illegal gatherings - including a party on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral and an infamous ‘bring your own booze’ party.

The Met Police were shamefully slow to react to the allegations - only deciding to investigate just as Sue Gray’s report was about to be published. This intervention meant that Sue Gray’s report has yet to be published - more than 3 months after it was finished.

The Met Police have issued over 50 fines and more are expected in the coming days. 

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are amongst those already fined once.

This on its own is bad enough, but this is only half of the Partygate story.

When these allegations were first made, the Prime Minister had a choice. He could have come clean - saving months of investigation by the Met Police and Sue Gray. 

But instead he chose to lie repeatedly about it. That is why we have called for his and the chancellor’s resignation.

The Ministerial Code is unequivocal. This is what the Prime Minister himself wrote in the introduction -

“The precious principles of public life enshrined in this document – integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty and leadership in the public interest – must be honoured at all times”

The Prime Minister and his Chancellor have fallen far short of this. For them to stay in place makes a mockery of the code and is reinforcing the view that there’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us.

This Prime Minister is still ducking any accountability and now MPs have started yet another investigation into his behaviour to look at whether he lied to Parliament? An attempt by the Government to delay that investigation failed after backbench Conservative MPs refused to toe the line. We don’t yet know how long this investigation will take.

Where does this leave us?

The Met Police are expected to issue more fines for offences in Downing Street in the coming days and it seems possible that the Prime Minister will be fined again. Only once this has happened will Sue Gray’s report be published.

We have called repeatedly for the report to be published in full - the public deserves the full truth.

Speaking of the public, they appear to have made up their mind about the Prime Minister -  YouGov’s latest research shows that barely 1 in 10 people think that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is trustworthy. 

Our view is that every day this remains unresolved it does more damage to our democracy.  The PM could and should end this now by resigning - it’s clear that he won’t. 

This should be beyond party politics.

Whether it’s Conservative MPs, or one of the three inquiries into the Prime Minister’s behaviour, someone should call time on this disgraceful affair.

‘Beergate’

Last week, it was announced that the Leader of the Opposition is being investigated for possible breaches of Covid restrictions. 

We are clear. Any alleged rule-breaking by the Leader of the Opposition, the PM, any other MP, or Minister must be dealt with in an identical manner.  

As we said, this is not about party politics.

Restoring trust in politics must be our priority.  That means crimes must have consequences. Our future as a vibrant democracy depends on it.