Keir here before the beer: Labour leader was in Hull hours before Durham visit
STARMER VISITED CITY AHEAD OF KNOCKOUT
SIR Keir Starmer is probably wishing he had stayed in Hull after staking his political future on the outcome of a police investigation into an alleged Covid lockdown breach.
The Labour leader visited Hull just hours before travelling to Durham, where he was photographed in an MP’S office eating curry and having a beer with party workers.
Sir Keir has denied any wrongdoing and has pledged to resign if he is fined over the allegations.
The gathering in Durham in late April last year came just days before a parliamentary by-election in Hartlepool and local council elections.
Earlier in the day, Sir Keir was out and about in Hull to meet party supporters preparing for city council and police and crime commissioner elections here.
On a campaign trail walkabout in Hull, he visited businesses in Humber Street and the city’s Vulcan Boxing Academy with the then Labour Police and Crime Commissioner Keith Hunter and Councillor Daren Hale, who was deputy city council leader at the time.
During a media call at the club, he happily posed for photographs wearing a borrowed pair of red boxing gloves.
Sir Keir had actually arrived in Hull the night before.
With coronavirus restrictions having been lifted a week earlier, he spent part of the evening on a private tour of city centre development projects.
The next day, he told Hull Live he supported the changes he had seen – including the city’s new-look cycle lanes.
He said: “I was out and about in Hull last night looking at some of the regeneration work, it’s impressive and it’s bringing a real vibrancy to the city.
“There will always be niggling problems with these things to begin with, but overall this is a good plan for the city that will make a real difference.”
He also spoke about issues facing the Hull-based trawler Kirkella following the collapse of talks with Norway over fishing quotas.
He accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of betraying voters in Hull by failing to deliver on his Brexit promises.
He said: “I look at those local fishing communities here in Hull and I have that image of the Kirkella in my mind, tied up and unable to go out and fish.
“The Prime Minister has made big promises to those communities and he’s failed to deliver. Whether people in Hull voted leave or remain, they have been betrayed, no one voted for fishing to be devastated.”
Later that night, a post was published on Sir Keir’s Twitter account about his visit to Hull.
Accompanied by four photographs, including one with MPS Diana Johnson and Emma Hardy at Hull Marina, he said: “I was touched by the warmth and openness of the people of Hull and the pride they have for their city.
“It’s a pride shared by their Labour council. Just one week to polling day, vote Labour.”
However, his message fell largely on deaf ears. Mr Hunter was defeated by his Conservative rival in the PCC election, while Labour’s majority on the city council was squeezed after losing two seats to the Liberal Democrats.
Last week, the Lib Dems took overall control at the Guildhall.
The timing of the tweet – 10.13pm – is being seen by some as evidence that this staff continued working after eating a takeaway delivered to the venue where they were based in Durham.
Party sources say the gathering was permitted under rules that allowed work events.
Indoor gatherings were still banned under Covid laws in England at the time, but there was an exception for people gathering for “work purposes”.
This week, Sir Keir claimed his critics were trying “to get the public to believe all politicians are the same”.
He added: “I am here to say they are not – I believe in honour, integrity and the principle that those who make the laws should follow them.
“If the police decide to issue me with a fixed-penalty notice, I would of course do the right thing and step down.”