Partygate: Dominic Cummings says Met Police never sent him a questionnaire about Downing Street lockdown parties | Politics News

Dominic Cummings has said the Metropolitan Police never asked him for evidence as part of its investigation into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson‘s former adviser was asked if he was fined by the police after it concluded its inquiry last week, handing out 126 fines to 83 politicians and civil servants, including one to the PM.

He answered on Twitter: “No, didn’t even send a questionnaire or email asking for evidence.”

Mr Cummings was the PM’s right-hand man until November 2020.

The Met’s investigation covered events in Downing Street from May 2020 until April 2021.

Mr Cummings’ revelation comes after the Met’s acting commissioner Sir Stephen House defended his force’s nearly four-month investigation.

Sir Stephen insisted detectives made decisions “based on the facts and were proper”.

However, detectives have come under scrutiny over their investigation after the PM was only fined once but was pictured at other events – which civil servant Sue Gray confirmed in her report he attended.

Those believed to have attended events were given questionnaires to fill out by the police. They were legal documents.

Mr Cummings is mentioned in Ms Gray’s report six times, identifying him as present at two events included in her inquiry.

One was a gathering in the Downing Street garden on 15 May 2020, where Mr Cummings was pictured with the PM and his wife and others, with wine bottles and a cheese platter.

Ms Gray said this event was a continuation of work meetings, and it was not investigated by the police.

Read more:
Details of how the Met Police investigated partygate
Sue Gray report key findings: Karaoke machine, drunkenness and panic button triggered

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Mr Cummings was also identified by Ms Gray as being at a leaving do for a No 10 private secretary on 18 June 2020, for which others were fined.

It went on until after 3am and involved a karaoke machine and “excessive alcohol consumption”, with someone being sick and a “minor altercation between two other individuals”, Ms Gray said.

But Mr Cummings has argued the event was actually in two parts, and he was not at the later event and believes nobody at the earlier part was fined.