Ex-London Mayor candidate Shaun Bailey quits police and crime committee after ‘rule breaking’ bash

Tory ex-candidate for Mayor of London Shaun Bailey has resigned as chair of the London Assembly’s policing and crime committee after it was revealed he broke Covid rules last year by attending a Christmas gathering. 

The Conservative Party stated last Wednesday that an event for Shaun Bailey’s then-mayoral campaign took place inside the party’s Westminster HQ on December 14, 2020.

Mr Bailey bowed to pressure this afternoon after a week of intense demands for him to quit, MyLondon reported. 

Members of Downing Street staff joined the party, which included dancing into the early hours of the morning, despite Tier 2 restrictions in London barring indoor socialising at the time.

Four members of Mr Bailey’s staff are reported to have been disciplined over the ‘raucous’ gathering.  

An image taken on the night last December shows Mr Bailey standing in the middle of a crowd of some 24 people huddle closely together at Conservative Party HQ with platters of food nearby. 

None are of the partygoers including Mr Bailey are wearing masks and some of the them are raising their drinks to toast the night; while millions of other Britons were forced to self-isolate in line with the tiered restrictions.

 Ex-mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has quit as chairman of the London Assembly’s police and crime committee following revelations of a Chistmas gathering he attended last year, in breach of Covid regulations

‘[Mr Bailey] does not want an unauthorised social gathering involving some former members of the London mayoral campaign team last December to distract from the Committee’s important work,’ said a Conservative spokesman

Mr Bailey had been scheduled to chair Wednesday’s police and crime committee, where it was expected London Assembly Members would personally demand he step down.

But an email announced that City Hall Conservative leader Susan Hall would chair the committee in the interim. 

A Conservative spokesman from the Greater London Assembly said: ‘Shaun Bailey AM has today stood aside as Chairman of the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee.

Mr Bailey’s Labour opponents on the London Assembly insist he still has questions to answer over the party last December

‘He does not want an unauthorised social gathering involving some former members of the London mayoral campaign team last December to distract from the Committee’s important work holding the Mayor of London to account.

‘He will continue to speak up for Londoners who no longer feel safe in our city and push for a strategy to tackle the disproportionate level of crime in London’s black community.’

In response to Mr Bailey’s departure, Labour’s London Assembly policing lead Unmesh Desai AM said: ‘Shaun Bailey still has to answer questions put to him by the Labour group.’

The Labour group has demanded to know who attended the party and whether Mr Bailey received any gifts.