Boris Johnson can breathe a sigh of relief, at least a little.

On Thursday, Scotland Yard Police said it had closed its investigation into several social gatherings at the Prime Minister's office.

As a result, Johnson will not receive another penalty order.

Oliver Kuehn

Editor in Politics.

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The Authority had investigated eight such gatherings at Downing Street as strict lockdown rules were in place across the country at the time they took place.

The prime minister and his staff have been accused of failing to abide by the rules he enacted for the country.

Johnson, his wife Carrie and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak were fined last month for attending a brief gathering in honor of Johnson's birthday in June 2020.

Johnson is politically but not yet off the hook.

The House of Commons is still investigating whether he knowingly lied to Parliament when he insisted that no corona rules had been broken at the meetings he attended in 2020 and 2021.

The government has also announced that it intends to publish the so-called Gray Report in its entirety.

Officer Sue Gray was commissioned to investigate the first incidents in January 2022 after they became known.

The report was initially published only abridged because Gray said at the time that she did not want to anticipate the police investigation.

At the time, she had accused the government of “serious misconduct”.

Johnson has announced that he will comment on the Partygate affair after the report is published in the House of Commons.

After the allegations became known, Johnson was under great pressure from his own party.

Several MPs called for his resignation.

At the latest after the Russian attack on Ukraine and Johnson's self-portrayal as Kiev's first helper, however, tempers have calmed down somewhat.

On Thursday, only the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Keir Starmer - who is also the subject of a police inquiry over similar allegations - continued to call for the resignation of the prime minister.

As Scotland Yard announced, the authority issued 126 fines to 83 people – 35 men and 48 women.

28 people would have received between two and five of these penalties.

But it also said that no other people would be identified.

The investigations are said to have cost £460,000 (around €540,000) and, according to Scotland Yard, twelve officers were involved.