“No further action” will be taken against former Conservative London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey after he attended a party while coronavirus restrictions were in place.

Following a Metropolitan Police investigation into the party on 14 December 2020, the force on Friday said it will not be fining Mr Bailey for breaching COVID rules.

The London Assembly member, who lost out to Labour’s Sadiq Khan in May last year, was pictured at an event with more than 20 people said to be held at the Conservative Party’s Westminster headquarters.

At the time, London was under Tier 2 restrictions that banned the mixing of households indoors.

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He apologised when the photo emerged in December 2021 for a “serious error of judgment” and resigned as chairman of the London Assembly’s influential police and crime committee, which scrutinises the work of the Met Police.

On Friday, the police said the photo by itself “is not sufficient evidence” but it was considered alongside “all other relevant material”.

Venue staff were questioned and the Met sent out legal questionnaires to a number of people in the photo.

“The investigation reviewed all the material thoroughly and after careful consideration, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to disprove the version of events provided by attendees to a standard that would meet the threshold required,” a Met statement said.

“As a result, a decision was made that no further action should be taken.”

The force did not interview anybody under caution and has used the legal questionnaires to investigate a number of other alleged COVID rule breaches, including for Boris Johnson.

If Mr Bailey had been found to have breached COVID rules he would have faced a fine.

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