Partygate video: who is in controversial Tory HQ Mirror video - including Malin Bogue and Jack Smith

The question of whether Conservatives caught up in the partygate scandal should have their honours rescinded is an “open matter”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

It comes after a video emerged of a party held at Conservative Campaign Headquarters in December 2020 while Covid restrictions were in place, an event attended by failed London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey and Tory aide Ben Mallet, with the pair due to receive a peerage and an OBE respectively in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours.

The Labour leader, asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether there is a process for rescinding honours, said: “I’m not sure there is. I certainly don’t think they should be getting honours. I think the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, should have said no. But he didn’t, he waved it through. And whether that can now be reversed I think is an open matter.

“But certainly, anyone looking at that video – it is only the latest videos or evidence of wrongdoing at Downing Street or Tory Party headquarters – most people looking at that would say it is simply inappropriate for two of the people in that video to be getting honours. Why on earth didn’t Rishi Sunak simply say no?”

But who exactly was at the gathering in question? Here is everything you need to know.

Who was at the Christmas lockdown party?

Shaun Bailey

Lord Bailey was the candidate representing the party for the position of London mayor during the time of the party that violated lockdown regulations. It is believed that the video capturing the event was recorded soon after his departure, but he was captured in a photograph standing amidst a group, wearing a smile, while his colleagues posed with glasses in their hands.

Ben Mallet

In the video and accompanying picture that initially circulated, Mallet can be seen wearing festive braces and a navy blue tie and holding a glass of wine. It is known that he shares a close friendship with Carrie Johnson and previously managed Zac Goldsmith's mayoral campaign in 2016.

Presently, Mallet is actively involved in running Mozammel Hossain's London mayoral campaign.

Nick Candy

Candy, a prominent Conservative Party donor, was captured in the photograph alongside Bailey, where he can be seen sporting a grey blazer and holding a glass of wine. As a property developer, Candy made an unsuccessful bid for Chelsea Football Club last year.

He and his brother developed a penthouse in One Hyde Park, which became Britain's most expensive residence when he personally acquired it for £160 million.

Jack Smith and Malin Bogue

Smith and Bogue - the former wearing a festive jumper and green trousers, while Bogue wore a red A-line dress - are seen in the video dancing to 'Fairytale of New York' by the Pogues.

Amid their dances, they playfully twirl each other around while standing in front of a sign that urges people to maintain physical distance. Their energetic movements lead to the accidental knocking over of wine glasses as they inadvertently bump into a nearby table.

Smith serves as a parliamentary aide to Graham Stuart, the Conservative energy minister, while Bogue is the daughter of a wealthy businessman from San Francisco, and was actively involved in Johnson's leadership campaign in 2019, which aimed to replace Theresa May as the party's leader.