Croydon Tories: Shaun Bailey (right) out campaigning with SPAC Nation’s Jayde Edwards and councillor Mario Creatura
Party animal Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate for London Mayor last year, has been forced to resign his position as chair on a second London Assembly committee over his part in the rumbling Tory “partygate” scandals.
Last month, Bailey stood down as chair of the Assembly’s police and crime committee after it was shown that he attended a party organised by his mayoral campaign team at Conservative Party HQ on December 14, 2020. This was at a time when the rest of London was under strict Tier 2 restrictions banning household mixing.
Yesterday, it was reported that Bailey had also stepped down as chair of the Assembly’s influential economy committee.
Bailey remains a member of both committees and an Assembly Member.
Bailey has never been elected to the London Assembly by any of the capital’s constituencies, but has been included on the Conservative Party’s list of nominees, for places at City Hall based on their total vote.
News of Bailey’s second resignation from a position of some power at City Hall comes ahead of blundering Boris Johnson facing Prime Minister’s Questions at lunchtime today with rapidly dwindling support from his own backbenches over a “bring-your-own-booze” party held at 10 Downing Street in May 2020, when the country was still under strict lockdown restrictions.
At least eight separate parties are now known to have been held by members of the government between May and December 2020, in addition to the December 14 party held by Bailey’s campaign team. That led to four members of Bailey’s staff being “disciplined”.
Party animals: Shaun Bailey and his campaign team at their shindig in Dec 2020, held at Conservative Party HQ
Bailey, a former aide to Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London, has failed to appear in his capacity as an Assembly Member since a meeting of the transport committee last month.
Bailey has not spoken publicly since December 15, 2021, when he appeared on Gammon News to say that it would “take more than this [scandal] to stop me”.
In which respect, Bailey was at least partly correct.
Nothing appears to have stopped Bailey continuing to pocket his £58,543 publicly-funded salary as a London Assembly Member, as well as claiming a TfL Travelcard, worth more than £2,600.
Trebles all-round!
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Never forget this is the puritan who wanted to randomly drug test everyone
Was Shaun Bailey at the No 10 BYO shindig?
No.