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Kate Plummer
Jan 28, 2022
Cressida Dick confirms ‘Met is now investigating’ Downing Street partygate allegations
Independent TV
The Metropolitan Police has told Sue Gray to make “minimal reference” to potentially lawbreaking No 10 parties in her much awaited report, and people are stunned.
In a statement released on Friday morning the Met said that “for the events the Met is investigating, we asked for minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report” and added they had made the request to "avoid any prejudice to our investigation" which Cressida Dick announced on Tuesday.
The force added it had not requested "any limitations" on what her report says about gatherings that are not being investigated by its officers but given it was previously expected that the report would be published in full this week, people feel like Christmas has been cancelled (and we all know what that feels like).
Writing on Twitter, some suggested this would help Johnson by delaying damaging findings into his role in so-called Partygate:
He\u2019s been briefed the reports a disaster , it finishes him off , he\u2019s not willing to let go, he\u2019s doing everything he can to kick it down the road and stay in power. I never thought our country could be as bad as it is right now!— Gary Neville (@Gary Neville) 1643359304
Big thanks to The Met Police for playing their part in Operation Save Lying Hound.\n#SueGrayReporthttps://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1486973986961567745\u00a0\u2026— Parody Boris Johnson (@Parody Boris Johnson) 1643359942
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BREAKING: Met Police bail out Boris. pic.twitter.com/57N06JPVgS— Piers Morgan (@Piers Morgan) 1643358106
The Metpic.twitter.com/9D5l3gSMZw— Nooruddean (@Nooruddean) 1643359353
pic.twitter.com/TqCBa2BGDt— Toby Earle (@Toby Earle) 1643359439
This absolutely reeks of cover-up. And why did they release a statement earlier in the week to say they had no objections to the full report being released? Dodgy, dodgy, dodgy. #SueGrayReporthttps://twitter.com/samcoatessky/status/1486973986961567745\u00a0\u2026— McGannAgain \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f (@McGannAgain \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f) 1643358010
The Cabinet Office and the Met are working together, and amazingly they come to a politically convenient working solution! What are the odds!https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1486973986961567745\u00a0\u2026— Chris Cook (@Chris Cook) 1643359128
The Met want to bury this report the way they bury complaints against their own force - take control of it internally, water down all the findings and release after months and months of delays when people are fatigued— Moya Lothian-Mclean (@Moya Lothian-Mclean) 1643360900
First they wouldn\u2019t investigate criminality @10DowningStreet & now @metpoliceuk are asking Sue Gray to leave out details of parties they are investigating for Covid rule-breaking to \u201cavoid any prejudice\u201d to their investigation" I smell lots of ratshttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60166997\u00a0\u2026— Aamer Anwar\u270a\ud83c\udffe\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08#BlackLivesMatter (@Aamer Anwar\u270a\ud83c\udffe\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08#BlackLivesMatter) 1643360623
The Met\n\n- we see no evidence of parties at No 10\n- we are waiting to see what evidence a civil servant finds\n- we are investigating but will stop civil servant from revealing what evidence they found\n\nBeyond absurd.— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam Sanghera) 1643360329
If you're in Westminster today then double up on your masks because this really stinks.https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1486973986961567745\u00a0\u2026— Otto English (@Otto English) 1643357982
Who'd have thought the Met getting involved in something would lead to a chaotic series of arbitrary decisions that make no sense?— Sam Freedman (@Sam Freedman) 1643358520
If you wanted to save Johnson you'd publish the Gray report without the damaging stuff and the Met would carry out (then drop) a half baked investigation into the damaging stuff. 1/2https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1486973986961567745\u00a0\u2026— Jo Maugham (@Jo Maugham) 1643358389
The Sue Gray Reportpic.twitter.com/MZYGbNMk9I— \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded Carl Anka \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded (@\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded Carl Anka \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded) 1643363640
The Met:\nWe\u2019re not going to investigate\nWe\u2019re not going to investigate\nWe\u2019re not going to investigate\nWe\u2019re not going to investigate\n\n*Sue Gray hands over all the piles of evidence*\n\nThe Met\nOk we\u2019ll investigate, but you can\u2019t say shit— James Felton (@James Felton) 1643364187
A spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police told indy100: "For the events the Met is investigating, we asked for minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report.
"The Met did not ask for any limitations on other events in the report, or for the report to be delayed, but we have had ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office, including on the content of the report, to avoid any prejudice to our investigation."
Partygate rumbles on, and on. And on.
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