LONDON: Boris Johnson will not face another formal probe into allegations that he broke Covid lockdown laws at the UK prime minister’s country residence, police announced on Tuesday.
Officers said in May that they were looking into possible rule-breaking at Chequers involving Johnson, his family and friends, at a time when legal limits on social gatherings were in place.
Other “potential breaches” at Downing Street of the laws the government ordered the public to follow were also assessed.
But in a joint statement, Thames Valley Police and London’s Metropolitan Police said the events, alleged to have taken place between June 2020 and May 2021, “do not meet the retrospective criteria for opening an investigation.”
Johnson, 59, and more than 120 government officials, previously received police fines for holding a series of gatherings at Downing Street during the pandemic.
The revelations caused public outrage and contributed to his resignation last July. He insisted the latest accusations were false.
A parliamentary committee recently concluded that Johnson repeatedly lied to MPs, and was in contempt of parliament, ruling that he would have been suspended for 90 days had he not quit as a lawmaker.
The long-running “Partygate” affair is not fully over for the ruling Conservative party, as the Met said it was reopening an investigation into a Christmas party held at its party headquarters in December 2020.
Photos and videos published in the British media of the so-called “jingle and mingle” event showed Tory staffers drinking and dancing.
The Met said it was also opening an investigation into potential breaches of coronavirus regulations at parliament, also in December 2020.
That is thought to refer to a drinks event attended by a Tory member of the same parliamentary committee which ruled that Johnson repeatedly lied to parliament about “Partygate.”
No new ‘Partygate’ probe against UK’s Johnson: police
https://arab.news/4rkj8
No new ‘Partygate’ probe against UK’s Johnson: police
- Johnson, 59, and more than 120 government officials, previously received police fines for holding a series of gatherings at Downing Street during the pandemic
- The revelations caused public outrage and contributed to his resignation last July — he insisted the latest accusations were false
Bangladesh takes ‘balanced approach’ with Pakistan as talks of defense deal emerge
- Air force chiefs of Pakistan and Bangladesh discussed potential defense pact last week
- Dhaka says plan to procure fighter jets still in early stages, discussions ongoing with several countries
DHAKA: Bangladesh appears to be moving with caution as Dhaka and Islamabad forge closer ties and explore a potential defense deal, experts said on Friday.
Following decades of acrimonious ties, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have been growing since a student-led uprising ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.
Talks on a potential defense deal covering the sale of Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets to Dhaka emerged after Bangladesh’s Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan visit to Rawalpindi last week, where he met with his Pakistani counterpart Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of defense forces.
Bangladesh’s military media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, said the procurement of fighter jets for the Bangladesh Air Force is “in the very rudimentary level,” and currently “under an evaluation process.”
ISPR Director Lt. Col. Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury told Arab News: “The evaluation process will determine which country’s offer proves befitting for us. The air chief’s visit to Pakistan is part of the evaluation process … Earlier, he visited China, Italy (too).
“Discussions are underway with different countries. Nothing concrete has come yet.”
Talks between the high-ranking military officials are the latest development in Bangladesh-Pakistan ties, which have included the resumption of direct trade for the first time since the 1971 war and the expected launch of a regular route from Dhaka to Karachi at the end of this month, following over a decade of suspension.
Though efforts to expand relations can be seen from both sides, the current interim government of Bangladesh led by economist and Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been “showing some kind of pragmatism,” said Prof. Delwar Hossain of Dhaka University’s international relations department.
“Bangladesh is stepping very cautiously in comparison with the advancement from the Pakistan side. Bangladesh is trying to make a balanced approach,” he told Arab News.
“The present government is always saying that the development of a relationship with Pakistan doesn’t necessarily mean that Bangladesh is moving towards a particular camp. Rather, Bangladesh is interested in having a balanced relationship with all the great powers.”
Trade and economy are “naturally” more preferable areas of cooperation for Dhaka, Hossain said, adding that “we need more time to determine” how far military cooperation will be expanded.
Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, a defense expert and retired air officer of the Bangladesh Air Force, said that Bangladesh is “very much in need of advanced aircraft” because its military has not procured new fighter jets in at least two decades.
“Air frigate fighters are badly needed for the Bangladesh Air Force. We had some F-7 produced by China, but they stopped producing these fighters nowadays. Here, Pakistan can be a source for our fighter jets, but it involves … geopolitics,” he told Arab News, alluding to how Dhaka’s defense ties with Pakistan may be perceived by its archrival neighbor India.
Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets, a multi-role combat aircraft jointly developed with China, have drawn international interest following their success last May, when Pakistani and Indian forces engaged in their worst fighting since 1999.
Islamabad said it shot down several Indian fighter jets during the aerial combat, a claim Indian officials later acknowledged after initially denying any losses, but without specifying the number of jets downed.
“Our friendship with Pakistan shouldn’t (come) at the cost of our friendship with India,” Choudhury said.
“With this (potential) defense purchase deal with Pakistan, we have to remain very cautious so that it proves sustainable in the long term.”
