Labour launch last-ditch bid to stop Partygate Tory Shaun Bailey's peerage
Labour last night launched a last-ditch bid to block Partygate Tory Shaun Bailey being made a Lord for life within two weeks while police are probing his “jingle and mingle” bash.
Conservative bosses in the unelected upper chamber have been urged to stop the failed Mayoral candidate accepting a peerage, set up for him by disgraced former PM Boris Johnson.
The Metropolitan Police re-opened their investigation into the 2020 Christmas party at Conservative HQ, after the Sunday Mirror published the first shocking video footage of Tory staff drinking, dancing and laughing at Covid regulations.
But Mr Bailey is set to be handed a seat for life in the House of Lords in less than two weeks, after Mr Johnson named him on his crony resignation honours list. Rishi Sunak has insisted he can’t stop Mr Bailey taking his seat in the upper chamber - and it’s almost impossible to remove a peer once they take the oath.
But Lord True, the Conservative Leader of the House of Lords has the power to deny Mr Bailey the party whip unless he agrees to delay his investiture.
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Labour chair Anneliese Dodds today wrote to Lord True, urging him to take action.
“As an attendee at a lockdown-breaking party at CCHQ, Mr Bailey is therefore set to become a lifelong Peer under a cloud of suspicion over lawbreaking,” she wrote.
“As the Leader of the House of Lords for the Conservative Party, I ask you to act to delay his investiture in the House of Lords until the ongoing police investigation is complete, and ensure that he is not granted the Conservative Party whip.”
The intervention will ramp up pressure on the Prime Minister to put the brakes on Mr Bailey’s peerage.
The date of investiture is arranged between the new peer and Lords officials - but the party have the power to step in and order him to refuse or delay it, or deny him the party whip if he won’t.
Losing the whip means he would have to sit in the lords as a non-affiliated peer - effectively an independent.
It’s thought to be the first time anyone has been handed a peerage while linked to an active police investigation.
There have been calls for previous peers appointed by Boris Johnson to be blocked from taking their seats - including Russian-born media mogul Lord Lebedev and Tory donor Lord Cruddas. But both now sit in the upper chamber for life.
Gadd’s Peerage Law, the foremost book on Lords legal rules, says once the Crown has granted a peerage, it is “very difficult to deprive the holder of it”.
Peers are automatically disqualified from the Lords if they are sentenced to more than a year in prison.
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And the House can vote for a peer to be expelled if the Lords Conduct Committee recommend such a sanction.
But this has never happened.
Even if Mr Bailey quit or was expelled from the Lords after taking his seat, he would keep the title for life.
Confronted by the Mirror this week and asked if it was right for him to accept the peerage, Mr Bailey said: “That’s for other people to decide.”
Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “It will be a betrayal of everyone who did the right thing and followed the rules if Lord True allows Shaun Bailey to make the law whilst under investigation for breaking the law.
“True’s failure to act shows the utter contempt in which he and Rishi Sunak hold people and parliament. This peerage must be immediately delayed until this investigation is complete.”
Elena Ciesco, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice said: "The 8th December 2020 is a date I will remember for the rest of my life, as it was the day my Dad passed away. To think that whilst I was saying goodbye to him over a screen, Shaun Bailey and others who were supposed to be protecting him were "jingling and mingling" and treating the whole situation like it was a joke is beyond devastating.
"Shaun Bailey’s conduct makes him totally unfit for a seat in the Lords, which he should recognise and withdraw from the process immediately. Frankly, it's sickening that he hasn't already done so."
Last month this newspaper published bombshell video evidence of staff drinking and dancing at the December 2020 party held in Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), at a time when indoor gatherings were banned in London.
The Mirror had in December 2021 published a photo of the party, showing 24 people, including Mr Bailey and members of his campaign team, huddled together in the basement office.
The original photo, published by the Mirror in 2021And following our investigation, Mr Bailey admitted he had remained in the same building until after 9pm that night - long after the party was in full swing.
He admitted he had been “unintentionally inaccurate” when he previously said he’d left the party early to appear on BBC Newsnight.
Police initially closed its investigation into the gathering in November last year, saying there was not enough evidence in the photo to contradict explanations given to them by people who were at the party - including Mr Bailey.
In her letter, Ms Dodds added: “Membership of the House of Lords is a privilege that should be afforded to those who have a record of achievement and public service to offer, not to the cronies and chums of a disgraced former Prime Minister.
“The current Prime Minister promised a government of integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.
“The British public will expect you to prove that by acting to prevent yet another one of Mr Johnson’s enablers and cheerleaders - and a potential Covid lawbreaker - to tarnish our democracy by entering the chamber that you represent as Leader of the House of Lords.”
Mr Bailey is due to be “introduced as a baron” on July 18.
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