Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Fines issued over Downing Street party the night before Philip’s funeral

Fines issued over Downing Street party the night before Philip’s funeral

Exclusive: fixed-penalty notices handed out over events held at No 10 on 16 April 2021

Downing Street staff have been issued with fines by police over a party that took place the night before Prince Philip’s funeral, in the first decision by Scotland Yard that Covid laws were broken inside No 10 at the heart of government.

After the Guardian revealed that fixed penalty notices were handed out to those who attended a leaving do for an aide to Boris Johnson in the Cabinet Office in June 2020, sources said those who partied into the early hours in No 10 on 16 April 2021 had also been warned they would receive fines.

The event caused consternation due to the contrast between it and the Queen’s strict adherence to social distancing rules by sitting alone at the funeral of her husband of 73 years.

Meanwhile, Downing Street staff were said to have got so drunk that they broke the swing used by the prime minister’s son, Wilf, in the No 10 garden, while a staff member was sent out to a local supermarket to pack a suitcase full of wine and another acted as a DJ.

Two parties took place that evening – one to mark the departure of Johnson’s director of communications, James Slack, and another for one of Johnson’s personal photographers.

At the time, England was in step two of the strict roadmap out of lockdown, meaning all indoor mixing was banned.

Many of those who partied in No 10 on 16 April were sent questionnaires by the Met asking them to provide a reasonable excuse for their attendance.

But in an email, the Operation Hillman team investigating the string of lockdown-busting events told some of them that it had been “assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that you committed an offence in contravention of the regulations”.

The notification, which was received by some late last week, added: “In light of this, you are to be reported for the issuance of a fixed penalty notice (FPN), offering you the opportunity of discharging any liability to conviction for the offence by payment of a fixed penalty.”

The Met said further correspondence confirming the details of the fine would be sent by ACRO – the criminal records issuing office.

Downing Street declined to comment. No 10 apologised to the Queen in January after details of the parties were reported.

The apparent confirmation that Covid laws were broken inside No 10 will lead to further questions over whether Johnson misled parliament about the dozen parties under investigation.

He told Keir Starmer during prime minister’s questions on 1 December 2021: “What I can tell the right honourable and learned gentleman is that all guidance was followed completely in No 10.”

Meanwhile it also emerged that Helen MacNamara, the Cabinet Office’s then head of ethics, had attended the June 2020 leaving do for No 10 aide Hannah Young. It is understood she supplied a karaoke machine that was used at the gathering by revellers until the early hours.

Three sources also told the Guardian there was a drunken brawl at the event, held in the office of Mark Sedwill, who was cabinet secretary at the time. The Telegraph reported that MacNamara had been fined, while ITV said Johnson would not be interviewed by the police.

Scotland Yard said it would not confirm which events fines had been issued for, or the identity of anyone who received a fixed-penalty notice.

A spokesperson for the Met told the Guardian: “Unlike other incidents of Covid regulation breaches, the investigation under Operation Hillman remains ongoing, and as such we are not releasing further information at this time.

“At its conclusion, we will review what information can be released whilst still working to the NPCC [National Police Chiefs’ Council] principle of not releasing information that will lead to any individual being identified.”

Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the revelation that fines were to be issued for the 16 April 2021 event “confirms what the British public have known all along” – that Johnson was “a liar and must resign”.

She told the Guardian: “The emotional images of the Queen sitting alone at her husband’s funeral were the hallmark of the British spirit through the pandemic.

Boris Johnson’s Downing Street didn’t show an ounce of respect for this country. There can be no more cover-ups and no more lies. For the good of the country, and for all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, he must go.”

It is believed the fines handed out to those who attended the 16 April 2021 party were among the initial tranche of 20 announced by the Met on Tuesday.

The only two people No 10 have committed to identifying if they are fined is Johnson and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, who had to be recused from leading the internal Whitehall partygate investigation after it was discovered a gathering was held by his team in December 2020.

A Labour frontbencher on Sunday called for everyone fined to be publicly named.

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, told Sky News that anyone who is issued with a fine – including the prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson – should have their identify made public.

“I think anyone who’s been in Downing Street should be named if they have been part of this.

“Because there’s been so much dishonesty, so much obfuscation from the people at the top in Downing Street, from the prime minister and his immediate circle downwards, I think people just want to know what really went on. Let’s have some transparency, let’s have some honesty.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×