Ex-Whitehall ethics chief 'fined over lockdown karaoke party'

A former chief of ethics in Whitehall has reportedly been slapped with a fine over the Partygate scandal. This is relating to a lockdown karaoke event in the Cabinet Office.

Former deputy cabinet secretary, Helen MacNamara, is though to be among the first set of people handed fixed-penalty notices by cops after a probe into law breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall while the rest of the country was locked down. The Daily Telegraph reports that the senior civil servant is among at least 20 people handed a £50 fine last week over the bash on June 18, 2020.

The event was a boozy leaving do for No10 official, Hannah Young, which is said to have ended in a fight. Lockdown rules at the time banned indoor social gatherings such as this.

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Ms MacNamara was the director general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office from 2018 to 2020, where she led a probe into bullying allegations against Home Secretary Priti Patel. She left the government to work for the Premier League last year.

The June 18 do was first revealed in Sue Gray's report into the Partygate scandal where staff reportedly sung karaoke using a machine that belonged to Ms MacNamara. This is despite people being told not to sing in public during that time due to Covid. Since it emerged that staff who attended the lockdown busting boozy bashes on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral would be punished the government has been under increasing pressure to name those fined.

Separate gatherings for former Downing Street spin chief James Slack and a photographer took place on April 16 2021, with the gatherings later merging together. This party lasted until the