STARMER ACCUSED OF PILING PRESSURE ON POLICE
As cornered Labour leader vows he will quit if fined, MPs say it’s a cynical ploy to influence outcome of investigation
KEIR Starmer was accused of putting ‘deeply inappropriate’ pressure on Beergate police last night.
In a high-stakes gamble, the Labour leader said he would ‘do the right thing and step down’ if Durham Constabulary fined him over his lockdown beer with aides.
But his opponents said this had placed detectives in the difficult position of knowing their decisions could decapitate the official opposition and leave Labour looking for new leadership.
Sir Keir’s deputy, Angela Rayner, also said she would quit if she was fined over her role in the ‘Beergate’ event in Durham on April 30 last year when all indoor socialising was banned.
After a day of crisis meetings
with advisers, Sir Keir gave a brief statement yesterday in which he repeatedly stated that ‘no laws were broken’ and claimed that the allegations against him were politically motivated.
However, the former director of public prosecutions confirmed he would quit if sanctioned over the event, saying: ‘If the police decide to issue me with a fixed penalty notice I would of course do the right thing and step down.’
The Labour leader’s Shadow Cabinet immediately took to social media last night to proclaim him as a man of ‘honesty’ and ‘integrity’.
And Sir Keir appeared to give himself a loophole for avoiding resignation by fudging questions over whether he would still quit if Durham police found he did breach lockdown laws but stuck to its policy of not issuing Covid fines retrospectively.
He also dodged questions over why the launch of the police probe was not enough on its own to trigger his resignation when he had explicitly called for Boris Johnson to quit at the start of the Scotland Yard inquiry into Partygate.
A Government source said ministers were concerned that Sir Keir’s intervention could place ‘undue pressure’ on Durham Constabulary to clear Sir Keir, or at least refrain from fining him. Digital minister Chris Philp hinted at the unease last night saying it was ‘deeply inappropriate that Sir Keir appeared to be attempting to pressure the police into clearing him’.
Barrister Francis Hoar also criticised the move, saying that ‘to undermine the presumption of innocence and put the police under pressure is wrong. A former DPP should know that’.
Sir Keir’s move echoes an intervention by Tony Blair, who is reported to have warned the police he would have to resign if he was interviewed under caution over the ‘cash for honours’ scandal, causing the officers to back off.
One ally of Sir Keir last night acknowledged that the move ‘puts some pressure on Durham police’ but insisted it only balanced out pressure from the Conservatives to investigate the matter.
As potential leadership hopefuls were warned they may need to be ready to launch their campaigns in weeks:
■ A source at the Durham event disputed Sir Keir’s claim that work continued after his late night beer and curry and said some of those attending were drunk;
■ Evidence emerged showing that the room in which he and others shared a beer and a curry was so small that social distancing was impossible;
■ A poll found that more than half of adults believe he probably or definitely has broken lockdown laws;
■ It emerged that the Labour leader’s office had invited 40 people to a Christmas party in breach of regulations, only to cancel at the last moment;
■ The Labour Left twisted the knife, with John McDonnell saying Sir Keir would have to resign if Durham police found any wrongdoing.
Durham Constabulary announced on Friday that it was launching a fresh probe into Beergate after receiving ‘significant new information’.
The move followed a string of revelations in the Mail about what really happened when Sir Keir gathered with MPs and officials in Durham Miners Hall in the run-up to last year’s local elections.
This newspaper revealed that, despite denials stretching back three months, Mrs Rayner was also present, along with Durham MP Mary Foy.
It has also emerged that the group, which may have comprised up to 30 people, shared £200 of curry when buffet-style meals were banned.
And Labour has failed to produce any evidence that Sir Keir and others continued to work after the curry gathering at 10pm on a Friday.
A source at the meeting has said no work was done afterwards, and that some of those present were ‘getting p ***** ’ – a claim denied by Mrs Foy.
Labour strategists believe that if Sir Keir is cleared it will pile pressure on the Prime Minister to resign over his own Partygate fine.
Mr McDonnell said that Sir Keir would have no choice but to go if there was a finding of fault.
The former shadow chancellor questioned why it had taken the leader days to decide on what he now says is a matter of principle.
A YouGov survey found that the public believe by a margin of 46:32 that Sir Keir should quit if fined and 54 per cent think he probably or definitely broke the rules.
IN a statement which combined lawyerly weasel words with trademark sanctimony, Sir Keir Starmer pledged to resign if issued with a fixed penalty notice over Beergate.
Superficially of course, he appears to be doing the decent thing, though frankly, he didn’t have much choice.
The Labour leader was so hectoringly adamant that Boris Johnson should have resigned merely for being investigated by the police, that if he himself were fined his position would become untenable.
However, as so often with lawyers, he left himself a loophole.
Durham police have consistently said it is not their policy to issue Covid penalties retrospectively, which is why they didn’t sanction Dominic Cummings over his rulebusting Barnard Castle adventure.
So the chances that Sir Keir will be penalised are slim.
But would he quit if found guilty of breaking the law but not fined? This was his answer yesterday: ‘The penalty for a Covid breach is a fixed penalty and I’ve set out the position in relation to that.’
Through the obfuscation, he seems to be arguing that if he’s not fined, he hasn’t broken the rules. Slippery, to say the least. Some might even say dishonest.
Sir Keir’s pledge also puts enormous pressure on Durham Chief Constable Jo Farrell, effectively placing the future of the Labour leadership in her hands.
With the regional police and crime commissioner and local MP both Labour, authorising a fixed penalty would be a bold, but highly dangerous career move.
In the court of public opinion, the jury has already reached its verdict. A major poll yesterday showed people believe strongly that if Sir Keir has broken the rules – fine or no fine – he must go.
Even among Labour voters, only one in three believed he could survive if found guilty of conduct similar to Boris Johnson in the Partygate affair.
Let’s be clear, the Daily Mail doesn’t believe either man should have to go because of the breaches themselves.
They were not deliberately flouting the fiendishly complicated Covid rules, which look more and more preposterous with each passing month.
And the fact we are so bogged down by these matters when there is war in Europe, soaring inflation and a crippling cost of living crisis is simply absurd.
But it is Sir Keir’s fault. By trying to paint himself as a moral paragon and Boris as a habitual liar and rule-breaker, he has been hoist with his own pompous petard.
As one commentator put it, his high horse has become a bucking bronco – and he’s in severe danger of being thrown off.
Far from being transparent, every incriminating fact about his beer and curry bash has had to be dragged out, mainly by this newspaper.
Dissembling over numbers, the lie that deputy leader Angela Rayner (who also now says she will resign if fined) wasn’t there, that this was just a spontaneous work break and not planned have all been exposed.
Then there are new revelations from an insider that no one at the gathering was working and several people were drunk. The booze may not have arrived in a suitcase but there was clearly plenty of it.
Despite the risible nothing-to-see-here bluster of shadow ministers yesterday, Sir Keir is rattled, as shown by the fact he disappeared for most of the day and then scuttled away after making his statement, before too many awkward questions could be asked.
With the demolition of each lie and halftruth his party manufactures to try to extricate him from the mire, the stench of cover-up grows and his claims to be a man of integrity look more and more empty.
His worst crime isn’t breaking Covid rules. It’s screaming, self-righteous hypocrisy.