Jingle & Mingle party: Shaun Bailey should consider turning down peerage, says Tory MP

Shaun Bailey should consider declining his peerage over a lockdown celebration for employees on his failed London mayoral bid, senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood says.

Guests have been invited to “jingle and mingle” on the 2020 Christmas gathering, at a time when indoor social occasions have been banned.

Mr Bailey is ready to turn out to be a lifetime member of the Lords, after Boris Johnson nominated him for a peerage.

He has mentioned it was “for others to decide” whether or not he takes his seat.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether or not Mr Bailey should consider his place, Mr Ellwood replied: “Absolutely, he needs to consider that, if we’re being frank.”

“There are big questions there, I don’t think I can answer those now,” added the chair of the Commons Defence Committee.

It comes after a video was published by the Mirror over the weekend, exhibiting workers on Mr Bailey’s marketing campaign crew consuming and dancing on the occasion in Tory HQ in London.

In the footage, one particular person is heard saying it’s OK to movie “as long as we don’t stream that we’re, like, bending the rules”.

The BBC has seen an invite to the celebration, wherein company have been requested to avoid wasting the date for “the Shaun Bailey for London Holiday Party” and have been invited to “jingle and mingle”.

It was despatched to 30 individuals on behalf of Ben Mallet, a former aide to Boris Johnson seen chatting to company within the newest footage. He was awarded an OBE by the previous prime minister in his resignation honours record earlier this month.

At the time, London was underneath Tier-2 restrictions which banned indoor socialising.

The Conservative Party mentioned 4 individuals have been disciplined over the occasion, though it has not named them.

Although Mr Bailey doesn’t characteristic within the footage, he has beforehand apologised for attending and was pictured in a nonetheless picture from the occasion that first emerged in late 2021.

He apologised once more on Monday, saying he had not seen the video however was “very upset” by it.

He mentioned he had not chosen the crew of workers seen within the video, however “the buck eventually stops with me”.

“It obviously turned into something once I’d left, I didn’t realise that,” he added.

He has mentioned it could be “for others to decide” whether or not he takes up his seat.

He added he thought of it a “great privilege” and he wish to “keep doing work for the rest of the country, and London as well”.

However, the co-founder of a marketing campaign group representing households bereaved by Covid mentioned these concerned should lose their honours.

Matt Fowler, whose father Ian died in 2020, informed the Guardian: “For many of us it’s much more difficult to see this in person. It’s just been a really gut-wrenching experience all around.”

The gathering on 14 December 2020 was organised by the marketing campaign crew for Mr Bailey, a Tory member of the London Assembly who was operating to be the capital’s mayor on the time.

The Metropolitan Police investigated after the nonetheless picture emerged, however determined to take no motion towards those that attended. It has since mentioned it’s reviewing the brand new footage.

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley mentioned on Monday the power was not conscious of the video through the inquiry, including it “tells a story way beyond the original photo” printed of the gathering.

“I need to let a team work through that, but I think we can all guess which way it will go,” he informed the News Agents podcast.

Life friends can voluntarily resign their membership of the House of Lords, however laws is required to take away it.

However, Hannah White from the Institute for Government suppose tank informed Today they “would retain, in theory, the title of the peerage”.

For different kinds of honours, similar to MBEs and OBEs, the Forfeiture Committee – a part of the Cabinet Office – can suggest to the monarch that an award be eliminated.

However, it has no investigatory powers and may solely mirror the “findings of official investigations”.

The Lib Dems have written to the committee’s chair asking him to open an investigation into withdrawing the entire of Mr Johnson’s resignation honours.

In her letter, Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine mentioned individuals attending the celebration receiving titles had “brought the honours system into disrepute”.

On Sunday, housing secretary Michael Gove mentioned he did not suppose these attending the celebration not too long ago given honours should lose their awards.

He added that “the decision about who was on that list is Boris Johnson’s” – and the federal government wanted to respect “due process”.