London, Thanasis Gavos

The Cabinet Office in Britain referred new evidence to the police for further investigation hitherto unknown violations of lockdowns during the pandemic by the former prime minister Boris Johnson.

As The Times revealed, Mr Johnson’s calendar of prime ministerial engagements includes visits from personal friends mainly to the official prime ministerial country house of Checkers but also to Downing Street amid Covid restrictions, between June 2020 and May 2021.

The calendar is being examined by the Cabinet Office as part of legal preparations for the upcoming public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic.

The disputed evidence has already been handed over to Thames Valley Police, where Checkers is based, and London’s Metropolitan Police.

The House of Commons Immunity Committee, which is investigating whether Mr. Johnson misled the legislature regarding the scandal, has also been informed of the new information. partygate.

Mr Johnson’s legal team said in a statement that all of the then-prime minister’s obligations were lawful, while his allies spoke of a “clearly politically motivated” development.

This development increases the political pressure on Mr. Johnson, who awaits next month the conclusion of the Parliamentary Committee on Immunity. In the event that the Commission recommends a ten-day expulsion of the former prime minister from Parliament, and if this penalty is approved by the body, then Mr. Johnson is threatened with by-elections in the district he represents.

It is recalled that Boris Johnson has already been fined by the Metropolitan Police for breaching the restrictive conditions of the pandemic, due to his attendance at his birthday “party” on June 19, 2020 in the cabinet meeting room.