A politician from Havering and former London mayoral candidate has become caught up in the controversy surrounding alleged Christmas parties, which continues to engulf the Conservative party.

Shaun Bailey, who is from Harold Hill and chair of the police and crime committee on the London Assembly, has admitted a festive event took place on December 14 last year.

This is contentious because the capital was being asked to adhere to Tier 2 restrictions at the time, meaning household mixing was banned, except for within support bubbles, and no more than six people could gather outdoors.

It was organised by Mr Bailey’s mayoral campaign and took place in the party’s Westminster headquarters.

A Conservative Party spokesperson revealed four members of Mr Bailey’s campaign team were disciplined following the “unauthorised social gathering”, which was described as “raucous”.

Mr Bailey, who lost out to Sadiq Khan in becoming mayor of London in May this year, is now facing calls from City Hall’s Labour group to step down from his position on the police and crime committee.

Labour London Assembly member Leonie Cooper sent a letter to Mr Bailey calling for him to clarify whether he attended the party himself.

In the letter, Ms Cooper said Mr Bailey’s position as chair of the police and crime committee was “untenable” and called on him to step down “until the necessary enquiries have seen completion”.

The City Hall Conservatives have been approached for a response.

This comes amid mounting pressure on the government about several parties they are accused of holding throughout December last year.

Former Downing Street press secretary Allegra Stratton became the first casualty of the scandal last week.

She stepped down from her role as a government adviser after a leaked video showed her joking about holding a Christmas party in a fake news conference.

A picture of Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosting a No 10 Christmas quiz last year has also surfaced.

He is seen behind a laptop reading out questions while staff sat behind computers and conferred on the answers, the Mirror reported.