Victory! The police have announced that they are investigating the prime minister’s lockdown-breaking parties. Thank you to everyone who signed this petition. Keep up the pressure by asking your MP to call for Boris Johnson’s resignation.

To: Metropolitan Police

While thousands of people were banned from visiting their dying relatives, Downing Street was holding parties in flagrant breach of coronavirus rules.

This scandal isn’t going away as the list of parties keeps on growing. Most recently a summer garden party during the first lockdown has come to light, with its invitation to “bring your own booze”, at a time when social gatherings were banned.

It comes on top of the long list of government Christmas parties, revealed when government spokesperson Allegra Stratton was shown laughing in a leaked video about pretending they were “work meetings”.

Every time a new lockdown-breaking party is revealed, Boris Johnson sets up yet another whitewash investigation – but that is not good enough.

Breaking the coronavirus laws is a crime and the police must investigate. It must not be “one rule for them and another for us”.

Just look at the affair of the Downing Street wallpaper donations. The prime minister denied everything and an internal inquiry cleared him. But once the authorities got involved – the Electoral Commission in that case – they found the law had been broken and fined the Tories £17,800.

The government must not be allowed to lie or ‘apologise’ its way out of this crisis, or to investigate itself. It must face the full force of the law.

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Highlighted comments

My father passed away in his care home in May 2020 and I couldn’t get in to see him. And we only had family at his funeral, whilst this lot were guzzling wine and presumably laughing at us.

Sharron, Cornwall

We all gave up so much in lockdown, unable to see our families, protecting friends, unable to attend friends’ funerals. We thought that everybody was doing the same so it is a great shock to discover that those who should have been setting an example were, in fact, breaking the law at that time.

Jane, Wiltshire

It is the police’s responsibility to investigate allegations of unlawful behaviour, not simply to wait and see whether an organisation looks into its own possible breaking of the law and then decide nothing needs to be further explored. This looks like collaborating with law-breakers instead of investigating them.

Trevor, Hampshire

If I’d had a party in my garden, I would have been prosecuted. Many people were, and were fined. Why should they be allowed to break the law they made themselves?

Nora, Surrey

This should be the simplest investigation in history to conduct and every person involved in any of these unlawful gatherings should face the exact same penalties as anyone else outside of Government. JUSTICE!

Paul, East Ayrshire

If people have broken the law they MUST be held to account. We can’t have a country with one rule for the government and one for everyone else; that is totally unacceptable.

Linda, Newport

I work in the NHS, they have undermined everything we did last year and undermined those police officers asked to break up parties, weddings and prosecute. Will those fines be refunded? No, then MPs should face the same fines. They are laughing at us all. All those who died alone, lost loved ones without saying good bye, couldn’t visit care homes, couldn’t attend funerals. It’s broken my heart and they’re laughing at us.

Katie, Isle of Wight

This government is not above the law, nor are they exempt from following the guidelines and rules they set for the country during the pandemic.

Scott, Wakefield

No one is above the law. If we are to continue to have faith in our govt and the police this must happen.

Izabella, South London