Britain’s Metropolitan Police are set to email more than 50 people as part of its inquiry into lockdown parties at held at Downing Street and Whitehall

Police say a questionnaire will be sent to people alleged to have been at events on eight dates between May 2020 and April 2021.

The questionnaire will request information for their account of what happened and “must be answered truthfully”, the Met said.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie are expected to be among the people to receive and email.

Met Police revealed in the email must be answered within seven days, but being contacted did not mean a fine would always be issued.

The police inquiry, called Operation Hillman, is looking into 12 gatherings that occurred over eight dates during the course of the COVID pandemic – some of which the Prime Minister himself attended – to see if coronavirus regulations were broken.

The investigation was launched after an inquiry by senior civil servant Sue Gray, who in her initial findings criticised “failures of leadership and judgement” over the gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall and referred them to police.