Boris Johnson’s Partygate inquisitor Bernard Jenkin is being investigated by Commons’ standards watchdog after Met Police end probe into his wife’s ‘lockdown-busting’ drinks do in Parliament

One of Boris Johnson’s Partygate inquisitors is being probed by Parliament’s standards watchdog, it was revealed today.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, who sat on a House of Commons committee that ruled against the ex-PM, is under investigation over ‘actions causing significant damage to the reputation’ of MPs.

It comes after the Metropolitan Police announced they had closed an investigation into an alleged lockdown-busting drinks do in Parliament.

An event on 8 December 2020, when strict Covid rules were in place, is claimed to have been held to celebrate the birthday of Sir Bernard’s wife, the Tory peer Baroness Anne Jenkin.

Scotland Yard announced they would be issuing no fines over the alleged breaches of Covid restrictions and are taking no further action.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, who sat on a Commons committee that ruled against Boris Johnson, is under investigation over ‘actions causing significant damage to the reputation’ of MPs

The ex-PM previously called on Sir Bernard to resign from the Privileges Committee over the claims he attended a drinks do for his wife in Parliament in December 2020

An event on 8 December 2020 is claimed to have been held to celebrate the birthday of Sir Bernard’s wife, the Tory peer Baroness Anne Jenkin

Sir Bernard is a senior Conservative MP and a member of the Commons’ Privileges Committee that looked into Mr Johnson’s denials of Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street.

The former premier previously called on Sir Bernard to resign from the Privileges Committee over the claims he attended a drinks do for his wife in Parliament in December 2020. 

Dame Eleanor Laing, a Commons’ Deputy Speaker, and fellow Tory MP Virginia Crosbie were already being probed by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over ‘actions causing significant damage to the reputation of the House as a whole, or of its Members generally’.

Sir Bernard has now joined them in being probed over the same allegation by Daniel Greenberg.

The Commissioner did not release any further details regarding the probe.

The alleged lockdown-busting event in December 2020 is claimed to have been hosted in Dame Eleanor’s offices in order to celebrate the birthdays of Ms Crosbie and Baroness Jenkin. 

The gathering was cited by Mr Johnson in a statement accusing Sir Bernard of ‘monstrous hypocrisy’.

Sir Bernard allegedly attended the event before he later sat on the cross-party panel which found Mr Johnson had lied to MPs with his Partygate denials.

Allies of Mr Johnson dubbed the Privileges Committee a ‘kangaroo court’, which brought censure from the cross-party group of MPs. 

Virginia Crosbie, MP for Ynys Mon, apologised earlier this year for attending an event in Parliament while Covid restrictions were still in place

The alleged lockdown-busting event is claimed to have been hosted in Dame Eleanor Laing’s offices in order to celebrate the birthdays of Ms Crosbie and Baroness Jenkin

Ms Crosbie, MP for Ynys Mon, apologised earlier this year for attending an event in Parliament while Covid restrictions were still in place.

Dame Eleanor, MP for Epping Forest, has served as a Deputy Speaker since 2013 under both current Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his predecessor John Bercow.

An invite sent by Baroness Jenkin on WhatsApp described the planned bash in December 2020 as a ‘birthday drinks’ party for ‘a few of our favourite people’.

The planned event was described as being ‘v small and socially distanced’.

At the time, lockdown regulations in London made clear that ‘you must not meet socially indoors with family or friends unless they are part of your household…or support bubble’.

In a statement today, the Met Police said: ‘An investigation, which opened in July 2023, into alleged breaches of Covid regulations in Parliament on 8 December 2020, has closed.

‘Officers assessed the available information and concluded it did not meet the threshold for the referral of any fixed penalty notices (FPNs).

‘Our approach to the assessment of these allegations has been consistent throughout.

‘The individuals affected have been told there will be no further action.

‘This now concludes all assessments or investigations by the Met into alleged breaches of Covid regulations.’

MailOnline has approached Sir Bernard for comment. 

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