How cosy! Starmer and local crime tsar
THE Labour leader campaigned for the crime tsar whose force is refusing to fine him over Beergate, it can be revealed today.
Keir Starmer recorded a video endorsing Labour’s Joy Allen as she ran for election as Durham’s police and crime commissioner.
Last night Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, demanded to know what conversations Mrs Allen had with officers who cleared him of breaking Covid lockdown rules.
Mrs Allen insisted she had had no involvement in their decision not to fine him after he was filmed drinking beer in the office of a Durham MP on April 30 last year. Mrs Allen, who has been a
Labour member for 27 years, was elected commissioner a week after the gathering.
Her campaign website included a picture of her with Sir Keir holding a sign that states: ‘Vote Joy Allen for Police and Crime Commissioner.’
In a video on Facebook, he said: ‘Vote Joy Allen to make the communities of County Durham and
Darlington safer, stronger and more secure.’
Commissioners are responsible for holding chief constables to account but they cannot instruct police officers directly.
Asked what role Mrs Allen or her office played in the police decision to take no action against Sir Keir, her spokesman said: ‘None at all. We were just informed. It was an operational matter for the force.’
Durham Constabulary declined to comment.