It’s the third anniversary of the lockdown birthday bash in the Commons – a party Guido revealed this summer, hosted by Commons Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing for her dear friend Anne Jenkin. Bernard Jenkin, of Liaison and Privileges Committee fame, attended the celebration. As if it were fate, on the same day three years later, it’s confirmed that Jenkin is under investigation by Parliament’s Standards Commissioner. He won’t be celebrating now…

The Met closed its investigation today, informing the partygoers that there will be no further action – something that many will consider unfairly lenient. Consequently, the Standards Commissioner can now commence its own inquiry. Last year, Jenkin voted to expel Boris Johnson from Parliament over his partygate scandal, asserting to the Privilege Committee, “the rules were clear—they were there for everyone, and no one is above the law.” Following our scoop, Boris sent Guido a statement, urging Jenkin to resign over the matter. He’ll be waiting with bated breath for the Commissioner’s conclusion…
Read the Met’s statement in full below:

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Guido has just got off the phone with Bernard Jenkin. Our conversation was short. We got to the point of the call pretty quickly:

Guido: Cast your mind back to December 8^th, 2020 during lockdown, do you remember attending a drinks party in parliament held by Eleanor Laing?

Bernard: I did not attend any drinks parties during lockdown.

Guido: It was your wife’s birthday celebration, are you saying you did not have anything to drink?

Bernard: I don’t recall.

Our chat came to a curt end. Fortunately prior to speaking to Sir Bernard, Guido had a longer conversation with Dame Eleanor Laing, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. She conceded that she held a “business meeting” on that evening, where “I was so strict with my 2 metre ruler and told everyone we will adhere to those rules and be very careful.” Guido laughed when Dame Eleanor claimed she had her 2 metre ruler in front of her right there and then.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons dictated the following statement to Guido

At the beginning of the pandemic I took advice on how many could be present in a room, I had the room measured and I kept a 2 metre ruler so that I could always verify that nobody who was working here was put at risk.

Guido asked her again:

Guido: Were any drinks served?

Eleanor: I don’t know. I will have to check.

No need Eleanor, Guido has already checked. Eleanor hosted a drinks party to celebrate her friend Anne Jenkin’s 65^th birthday on that day. There was a cake for Baroness Jenkin and people were invited by WhatsApp for “drinks”. There was a spread of food, other MPs attended including some of the 2019 intake and others. It was not an impromptu affair – the nibbles had been bought in.

One source says that Dame Eleanor did mention the need for social distancing – to some amusement – windows and doors were open, although initial attempts to social distance “went out the window”. The crowd included those typically involved with Anne Jenkin and the Women2Win campaign, such as Maria Miller. A co-conspirator says there was “loads of drink” and that they specifically remember Bernard Jenkin with drink in hand at a jolly affair.

On that day December 8^th 2020, London was in Tier 2 lockdown. Gatherings of more than 6 indoors either in a public or private building were against the regulations. No Christmas exception applied and breaches of the regulations were offences which could be prosecuted or dealt with by fixed penalty notices with penalties ranging up to £10,000. The guidance was clear:

Although there are exemptions for work purposes, you must not have a work Christmas lunch or party, where that is a primarily social activity and is not otherwise permitted by the rules in your tier.

This was a birthday party, in breach of the legal regulations, and to top it off there was even birthday cake.

UPDATE: Boris Calls on Bernard Jenkin to Resign Over His Own Drinks Party

Following Guido’s story earlier in the week that well-placed sources understand Corbyn is still refusing the vaccine, Starmer’s top aide has come out to agree with co-conspirators: Corbyn “should be honest” about his vaccine status. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Starmer’s new PPS Sharon Hodgson says:

“It’s not a privacy thing… if you’ve had the jab you should say and if he hasn’t then he needs to sort of be honest I suppose about that.”

As the Huffington Post notes, Corbyn’s office told Guido on Monday he “doesn’t normally comment on personal health matters”. His own Islington council area, however, now has the fourth lowest vaccine uptake of all local authorities, at just 38.3%. Surely Corbyn has a moral duty to come public on his vaccine status – providing he’s had one…