Met Police ‘undermining public trust’ after changing its mind over partygate

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey branded the London force’s communication around the incident ‘shocking’ after it faced a chorus of condemnation for its handling of the investigation.

He had accused the Met of a ‘stitch up’ earlier this week and now says the ‘absolute chaos’ could be ‘something worse’ than a cock-up.

It comes after Scotland Yard said it would investigate reports of lockdown-busting parties in Number 10 after weeks of refusing to do so – and just as Sue Gray was about to publish her report into the affair.

After U-turning, the force then asked for top civil servant to withhold certain parts of her investigation from the public to avoid prejudicing its own report.

Conservative MPs had been waiting on the Gray report before deciding whether to oust Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is accused of breaking his own Covid rules during the parties and then lying about it to Parliament.

Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick – already under-pressure over a string of damaging allegations about the force in recent months – defended its conduct as she suggested there might be ‘little ambiguity around the absence of any reasonable defence’.

Commander Catherine Roper, who leads the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command, said previously that the timing of the Gray report’s release was a matter for the Cabinet Office.

She said detectives would examine the material handed over by the Cabinet Office ‘without fear or favour following our normal processes.’

She added: ‘In order to protect the integrity of the police investigation, as is appropriate in any case, and to be as fair as possible to those who are subject to it, the Met has asked for minimal reference to be made in the Cabinet Office report to the relevant events.

‘This will only be necessary until these matters are concluded and is to give detectives the most reliable picture of what happened at these events.

‘We intend to complete our investigations promptly, fairly and proportionately.’

Meanwhile, Sir Ed claimed that energy bills would be £2.5 billion less if the Conservatives had invested more in renewable energy.

Asked about whether it is fair that the poorest families have to pay the green levies on their energy bills – a policy which he supported – he said: ‘It is not the green levies that is causing the problem, of course.

‘It is the rising gas prices that are causing the problem.’