- Tue Jan 25, 2022 12:10 pm
#19090
Another delaying tactic: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60123850
Westminster has been eagerly awaiting the report from senior civil servant Ms Gray into the list of alleged parties that took place over different lockdowns throughout the pandemic, including the birthday party.
While some Tory MPs have already openly called for Mr Johnson to go, others have said they are waiting to read her report before deciding on the PM's future.
But while the Cabinet Office has said her inquiry will continue at the same time as the Met's, the BBC understands Ms Gray's final report - which had been expected to be published this week - will now be delayed while the police carry out their own work.
And it is not yet clear how long the force's investigation will take.
The first thing is to have a sense of proportion.
When you hear the words, "Met Police, investigation, criminal, Downing Street", that sounds incredibly dramatic.
This is a big development in this story, but we are talking about the potential issuing of fixed penalty notices - fines - not about big criminal trials or people going to prison.
So it is important to keep that sense of perspective.
There are also lots of things we don't know about this police investigation.
We don't know how many of these high-profile parties are now being investigated and crucially we don't know if they were parties attended by the prime minister.