Shaun Bailey: Ex London mayor candidate quits over Christmas party

Shaun Bailey was a youth worker before entering politics

A former Conservative mayoral candidate who attended a Covid regulation-breaching Christmas party has quit as chair of a police and crime committee.

Shaun Bailey's team organised the gathering at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters on 14 December 2020 when London was under Tier 2 restrictions banning household mixing.

He has now stepped down from the role but remains a member of the committee and the London Assembly.

Mr Bailey has yet to comment.

On Tuesday night, a photograph emerged in the Daily Mirror of the party.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has condemned the event, saying: "That scene is absolutely unacceptable.

"It is unacceptable for people to be breaking the rules. That was not authorised by the Conservative Party," Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Those Conservatives who were on secondment from the party have already been disciplined and whatever further action needs to be taken will be taken."

Mr Bailey founded a youth charity after finishing his degree

A spokesperson for the Greater London Authority Conservatives said Mr Bailey chose to step down to prevent the "unauthorised social gathering" distracting from the committee's work of holding the mayor of London to account.

Last week it emerged that four members of Mr Bailey's campaign team had been disciplined over the party in the basement of the Conservatives' Westminster base.

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He was said to have briefly attended to give a speech thanking the group, some of whom stayed on for the banned gathering, at its end-of-year-briefing.

Born in North Kensington to a British-Jamaican family, Mr Bailey has been a member of the London Assembly since 2016.

Mr Bailey, who has a degree in computer-aided engineering from London South Bank University, co-founded a charity called MyGeneration in 2006; it ceased operations in 2012 due to financial problems.

Mr Bailey, who came second to Labour's Sadiq Khan in May's London mayoral election, had faced mounting calls to quit against a backdrop of the launch of an official probe into three government parties.

'Held to account'

Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat Assembly Members have come together in a joint call to Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to investigate reports of the party.

The statement reads: "Londoners, once again, feel let down and angry at these reports. So many people have made huge sacrifices over the last 21 months, particularly those who have been working on the front line, including your officers, and those lives have been directly and often tragically, impacted by Covid-19.

"It is essential that all those who breach the rules are held to account."

Boris Johnson announced last week that top civil servant Simon Case would lead an inquiry into a video of a mock press conference in which government spokeswoman Allegra Stratton joked with fellow staffers about a party held at 10 Downing Street in breach of regulations.

The clip, first shown by ITV News, was recorded last year on 18 December - a day on which more than 400 Covid deaths were reported.

Ms Stratton apologised and resigned over the video.