Sadiq Khan says Shaun Bailey should lose peerage over ‘Jingle & Mingle’ video
Sadiq Khan has said his former mayoral rival Shaun Bailey should not receive his peerage after a video of staff dancing and drinking at a Christmas party during Covid-19 emerged.
The mayor of London described the footage of staff, who joked about bending the rules in the video filmed at CCHQ on 14 December 2020 as “deeply upsetting to Londoners”.
Speaking at Mayor’s Question Time at City Hall this morning, Khan said: “Like most Londoners I was and am shocked by the scandal.
“We’ve heard nothing from the prime minister Rishi Sunak, the Conservative assembly or any of their current mayoral candidates – Londoners are furious.
“It’s heartbreaking and the actions of AM Shaun Bailey and his team are indefensible and yet they are being rewarded.
“Nobody is above the law. Those who broke the rules at a time when the public were being asked to make huge sacrifices should be held to account for their actions not rewarded.”
He added: “We’ve got to accept, this is a plague on all our houses – not just law makers being law breakers but the perception there is one rule for one group of people and one rule for another.”
Bailey did not attend the assembly meeting, and chairman Andrew Boff said the former mayoral candidate was “suffering a bereavement”.
He previously apologised “unreservedly” after the video emerged in The Mirror.
The BBC reported the invitation to the pre-arranged party was billed as a ‘Jingle & Mingle’ event while socialising was banned due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions.