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

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

Guests were invited to "jingle and mingle" at the 2020 Christmas gathering, at a time when indoor social events were banned.

Mr Bailey is set to become a lifetime member of the Lords, after Boris Johnson nominated him for a peerage.

He has said it was "for others to decide" whether he takes his seat.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether Mr Bailey should consider his position, 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.

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It comes after a video was published by the Mirror over the weekend, showing staff on Mr Bailey's campaign team drinking and dancing at the event in Tory HQ in London.

In the footage, one person is heard saying it is OK to film "as long as we don't stream that we're, like, bending the rules".

'Very upset'

The BBC has seen an invitation to the party, in which guests were asked to save the date for "the Shaun Bailey for London Holiday Party" and were invited to "jingle and mingle".

It was sent to 30 people on behalf of Ben Mallet, a former aide to Boris Johnson seen chatting to guests in the latest footage. He was awarded an OBE by the former prime minister in his resignation honours list earlier this month.

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

The Conservative Party said four people were disciplined over the event, although it has not named them.

Although Mr Bailey does not feature in the footage, he has previously apologised for attending and was pictured in a still image from the event that first emerged in late 2021.

He apologised again on Monday, saying he had not seen the video but was "very upset" by it.

He said he had not chosen the team of staff seen in the video, but "the buck eventually stops with me".

"It obviously turned into something once I'd left, I didn't realise that," he added.

He has said it would be "for others to decide" whether he takes up his seat.

He added he considered it a "great privilege" and he would like to "keep doing work for the rest of the country, and London as well".

However, the co-founder of a campaign group representing families bereaved by Covid said those involved should lose their honours.

Matt Fowler, whose father Ian died in 2020, told 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 campaign team for Mr Bailey, a Tory member of the London Assembly who was running to be the capital's mayor at the time.

Removing honours

The Metropolitan Police investigated after the still image emerged, but decided to take no action against those who attended. It has since said it is reviewing the new footage.

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley said on Monday the force was not aware of the video during the inquiry, adding it "tells a story way beyond the original photo" published 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 told the News Agents podcast.

Life peers can voluntarily resign their membership of the House of Lords, but legislation is required to remove it.

However, Hannah White from the Institute for Government think tank told Today they "would retain, in theory, the title of the peerage".

For other types of honours, such as MBEs and OBEs, the Forfeiture Committee - part of the Cabinet Office - can recommend to the monarch that an award be removed.

However, it has no investigatory powers and can only reflect the "findings of official investigations".

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

In her letter, Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said people attending the party receiving titles had "brought the honours system into disrepute".

On Sunday, housing secretary Michael Gove said he didn't think those attending the party recently given honours should lose their awards.

He added that "the decision about who was on that list is Boris Johnson's" - and the government needed to respect "due process".