Tory mayoral hopeful Susan Hall has become the first candidate to publicly criticise Shaun Bailey for his “jingle and mingle” party during lockdown.
Ms Hall spoke out after Mayor Sadiq Khan said the actions of Mr Bailey – who has been nominated for a peerage – and his team were “simply indefensible”.
Ms Hall, who claims to have more grassroots support than her two rivals bidding to become the Tory mayoral candidate, told the Standard: “The party should never have happened.”
Her intervention came after fellow mayoral hopeful Moz Hossain KC was caught on camera darting into a pub in a bid to escape questions about the scandal.
His campaign is being run by several people caught on video at the party at Tory headquarters in December 2020, including Ben Mallet, who was awarded an OBE by Boris Johnson in the same resignation honours list that is reportedly set to elevate Mr Bailey to the Lords on July 18.
Mr Khan, speaking at Mayor’s Question Time on Thursday, said that Tories who failed to criticise the lockdown party or the fact that participants had received honours “will regret that in the long term”.
Ms Hall is a longstanding colleague of Mr Bailey on the London Assembly, and was previously his group leader.
Mr Bailey, a family man who is believed to be teetotal, was not seen in the footage when party guests started dancing. He is believed to have left the party at that time.
The party was held at a time when he was the Tory mayoral candidate, and was attended by a number of staff working on his campaign. Mr Bailey was defeated by Mr Khan in the May 2021 mayoral elections.
The Tory group on the London Assembly has previously defended Mr Bailey and blocked moves at City Hall to have him censured after details of the party first emerged in December 2021.
The Standard has been told Mr Bailey initially sought to deny there had been a party, only for a now-notorious photograph to emerge – prompting him to quit as chair of the assembly’s police and crime committee.
Mr Bailey, who earns £60,416 a year as an assembly member, failed to attend Mayor’s Question Time, having informed officials that he had suffered a bereavement.
Earlier this week, he was filmed near Parliament, and “apologised unreservedly” for the scenes at the party.
Mr Khan said the footage of party-goers dancing and drinking in close proximity at a pre-arranged event “will have been deeply upsetting to many Londoners”.
He said: “Like most Londoners, I was and am shocked by the scandal.”
At the time, socialising indoors was banned in London. Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove last weekend called the party “indefensible”.
Mr Khan said: “We have heard nothing from the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the Conservative assembly group or any of their current mayoral candidates. Londoners are furious.
“The actions of Assembly member Shaun Bailey and his team are simply indefensible, and yet they are being rewarded.”
Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said officers were checking whether the video footage provided a basis for further investigation. This could result in attendees being fined.
Mr Khan said: “I have always been clear that nobody is above the law. Those who broke the rules at a time when the public were being asked to make huge sacrifices should be held to account for their actions, not rewarded.
“This is a plague on all our houses. Those who don’t condemn this behaviour, those whose silence and acquiescence to [his] promotion to the Lords will regret that in the long term.”
