Shaun Bailey has resigned as chairman of an influential London Assembly committee after a leaked photograph appeared to show him at a party last December when London was in lockdown.
The former London mayoral candidate will no longer head the police and crime committee, which scrutinises the work of the Metropolitan Police including its policing of Covid-19 restrictions.
Last week, the Conservative Party revealed that four members of Mr Bailey’s mayoral campaign team had been disciplined for holding an “unauthorised social gathering” at the party’s headquarters on December 14 last year, while household mixing was banned.
A spokesperson for Mr Bailey’s mayoral campaign team said the party was a “serious error of judgement” and that “we fully accept that gathering like this as that time was wrong”.
Mr Bailey on Tuesday night stepped down from his role after the Mirror published a photograph that showed him alongside dozens of staff members at the party.
A spokesperson for the GLA Conservatives said: “Shaun Bailey AM has today stood aside as Chairman of the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee.
“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.”
Mr Bailey has not yet himself spoken publicly about the incident since it came to light last week.
Labour Assembly Member Leonie Cooper, who first called on him to resign, has said that “the silence from Assembly Member Bailey has been deafening”.
Ms Cooper said: “We still want confirmation from him as to whether or not he was aware of the party being thrown in his honour - and whether he was in attendance. Given the sacrifices made by Londoners throughout this pandemic, it’s time for some honesty on Shaun’s part.”
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Days after the party took place and London was moved into stricter Tier 4 restrictions, Mr Bailey tweeted that the new restrictions were “tough on every Londoner” and that “my family has had to cancel plans and I’m sure yours has too”.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday morning, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that the breach of Covid rules was “disgraceful” and that Mr Bailey “absolutely did the right thing” by resigning.
It is understood that Mr Bailey will not be in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting of the police and crime committee, but that he will continue to serve as both a member of the London Assembly and a member of the committee.
