Partygate can’t distract Labour from cost of living crisis, shadow cabinet tells Starmer
SIR KEIR STARMER has been confronted by his shadow cabinet for failing to put enough pressure on the Government over the cost of living crisis, amid concern that he risks becoming “waylaid” by partygate.
The Labour leader is understood to have been challenged by Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, over the issue at the most recent shadow cabinet meeting.
Sir Keir was told that the party must not “lose sight” of the cost of living crisis by getting too “distracted” by partygate, a source close to Ms Nandy said, adding that this was the “overwhelming view” of the shadow cabinet.
“It feels particularly acute with the elections coming up,” they added.
“It was more a warning about not getting waylaid in the future. She is very much of the position that partygate does matter – but that is the sort of thing that is priced in. Ultimately, the sort of thing that will make a huge difference to people’s lives is the cost of living. We mustn’t be too distracted from this in the coming weeks and months.”
Last night it was reported by ITV that Boris Johnson may not yet have been sent a police questionnaire about his presence at a “bring your own booze” party in the Downing Street garden on May 20 2020, for which some officials are understood to have received fines.
The Prime Minister has received a £50 fixed penalty notice after attending a small gathering to mark his 56th birthday in June of that year.
But police are looking into five further events he attended, including the garden gathering, and it is widely expected he will receive further fines before the investigation is complete. Junior Downing Street officials have been fined for their presence at this party, which Mr Johnson has admitted he attended but said he believed was a work event.
Challenged on Sunday about whether he had focused too much on partygate, Sir Keir insisted his party could not just “pass over” the fact that Mr Johnson had been fined, along with Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, and scores of officials.
“They have been found to have broken the law – the criminal law at that,” he said. “No other prime minister in the history of our country has ever been found to have broken the law in office before. And I don’t think we can just pass over it.”
Conservative party sources have insisted that partygate is not coming up on the doorstep nearly as much as they expected it to when activists have been out campaigning for the May elections.
Some Tory leaders outside London have said they do not believe the party will be punished at the polls, with strategists
‘The thing that will make a difference to people’s lives is the cost of living. We mustn’t be too distracted from this’
setting their sights on taking control of Sunderland city council for the first time in its 48-year history.
Pollsters Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now have predicted that the Conservatives are on course to lose more than 800 council seats in next month’s local elections. But other polling companies have said the findings overstate the scale of any Labour gains, with one Opposition MP branding them Tory “expectation management”.
Speaking on ITV’S This Morning, Sir Keir appeared to acknowledge Downing Street parties were not at the forefront of voters’ minds, saying: “Going into the local elections, my focus is actually not on partygate, it’s on the cost of living crisis, because that is where – as I go around the country – so many people are saying, ‘I am really struggling’.”
Referring to discussions on the doorstep, a Labour source said: “Certainly, you can’t ignore what is happening with the PM, but a lot of the time we are talking about energy bills, the price of fuel – these are bread and butter issues.”