The police cannot be used to fight “political battles”, a crime commissioner has warned as he backed Scotland Yard’s decision not to investigate “Partygate”. 

Cressida Dick’s Metropolitan Police has come under increasing pressure to investigate potential Covid breaches relating to parties held at Downing Street during the various lockdowns which the British public has had to endure. 

But the Met has resisted stepping in, insisting that the force does not retrospectively investigate coronavirus incidents. 

Peter McCall, the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria, said this was the right approach. 

He told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “I think two reasons for that. The first is that the police have consistently said that they won’t look into historic breaches of the Covid rules and regulations. 

“And I think the important thing here is to remember that the police approach was always to encourage explain, educate and enforce as a last resort, and obviously with a historic case, you can’t go through those first three steps. 

“I think it’s very arguable that we we might reasonably expect that for this particular thing, the people involved shouldn’t have needed that education, but that is a difficulty.

“It will be for the Met [to decide] and they are the experts in this, but I personally think that’s not the route.”

The Prime Minister admitted on Wednesday he attended a lockdown party in the No 10 garden on May 20, 2020. 

He offered an apology but said he thought it classified as a work event and therefore would fall within the rules.

In response to repeated calls to resign from members of opposition parties, including Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson asked an official inquiry be allowed to “establish the facts”. 

This follows reports of a number of other incidents alleging Downing Street staff broke the law by attending gatherings in Westminster that were banned under Covid rules.

Mr McCall continued: “And I think the second reason [the Met shouldn’t investigate] is that I think we’re on a really difficult slope when we start to try and use policing to fight our political battles. 

“For me, this issue is, to be honest, is more one about moral leadership. I think it’s extraordinary to think that we had a government minister at the time telling us that we shouldn’t be doing these things and then we find that only moments later is it’s happening in town, you know, in Downing Street, 

“That is a position incredibly difficult to defend and I wouldn’t pretend to do that, but I do think we need to establish the facts and I think Sue Grey is probably the right person to do that impartially and calmly.

“And if the facts emerge as they appear to be at the moment, it’s an incredibly difficult position for the Prime Minister.

Asked if Mr Johnson should resign, the commissioner said it was a matter of “integrity”, and added “If it were me, I would be seriously considering my position.”