Comedian Lee Mack made a dig at Prime Minister Boris Johnson on stage at the Platinum Party at the Palace as he was seated just metres away with the royal family. The Freeze the Fear host took to the stage at the star-studded concert to mark Her Majesty the Queen's 70 years on the throne.
Almost immediately he made a jibe at the Prime Minister's expense to cheers from the crowd. "Welcome to the Party at the Palace," he said. "We are here outside the gates of Buckingham Palace for a party of a lifetime."
And he added: "Finally we can say the words party and gate and its positive." The joke was greeted with laughter from the audience gathered in The Mall for the celebrations who include people who worked on the frontline during the Covid pandemic.
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On Friday Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie were greeted by a chorus of boos from spectators as they arrived for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral. Last month Mr Johnson dismissed calls to resign after a damning report found there had been a culture of Covid rule breaking in Downing Street during lockdown.
Civil servant Sue Gray concluded in her 37-page report that there had been "failures of leadership" in Number 10 that had resulted in regular gatherings "not in line with Covid guidance." Facing the Commons Mr Johnson said he had been "humbled" by the report but told MPs he was "not aware" of several parties taking place in the offices below his flat.
The Gray report gave details of gatherings at which officials drank so much they were sick, sang karaoke, became involved in altercations and abused security and cleaning staff at a time when millions of people across the country were unable to see friends and family. Mr Johnson said: "I had no knowledge of subsequent proceedings because I simply wasn’t there, and I have been as surprised and disappointed as anyone else in this House as the revelations unfolded. When I said the rules and guidance had been followed at all times it was what I believed to be true."
Boris Johnson faces no further partygate fines from police after the Met Police said it had concluded its investigation into alleged lockdown breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall and has issued a total of 126 fixed-penalty notices (FPNs) to those involved. Scotland Yard said it had issued fines for events in Downing Street and across Whitehall spanning eight separate days, with 28 people being hit with multiple fines.
The force said fines were given to 53 men and 73 women. Referrals were made to the Acro Criminal Records Office relating to events on eight dates: May 20, June 18 and 19, November 13 and December 17 and 18 in 2020 and January 14 and April 16 in 2021.
Police refused to confirm the identity of any of those involved. However, No 10 said officers had told Mr Johnson he would not receive a second fine, having received one for the event on his 56th birthday.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Met has confirmed that they are taking no further action with regards to the Prime Minister.” Acting Deputy Commissioner Helen Ball, of the Met, said in a statement: “There is no doubt that the pandemic impacted all of us in so many ways and strong feelings and opinions have been expressed on this particular issue.
"When Covid regulations were introduced, the Met was clear that whilst we would not routinely investigate breaches of regulations retrospectively, there may be occasions when it would be appropriate to do so. The information that we received with regard to the alleged breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall was sufficient to reach our criteria to begin such an investigation.
"Our investigation was thorough and impartial and was completed as quickly as we could, given the amount of information that needed to be reviewed and the importance of ensuring that we had strong evidence for each FPN referral. This investigation is now complete.”
