Shaun Bailey: Ex London mayor candidate quits over Christmas party

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.

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 "raucous" party in the basement of the Conservatives' Westminster base.

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.

Mr Bailey, who came second 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.

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.