Police investigating ‘beergate’
SIR Keir Starmer was under mounting pressure to resign last night after police confirmed they had launched a criminal investigation into the so-called “beergate” allegations following the receipt of “significant new information”.
Durham Constabulary will determine whether the Labour leader broke coronavirus regulations when he and some colleagues gathered for beer and a takeaway curry at about 10pm on April 30 2021, when most indoor social gatherings were banned.
The Daily Telegraph understands the investigation will take up to six weeks to complete, with detectives sending questionnaires to those suspected of having breached the lockdown rules.
When Scotland Yard launched its partygate investigation into illegal gatherings in Downing Street earlier this year, Sir Keir and his deputy, Angela Rayner, repeatedly called for the Prime Minister to stand down.
The day after the Met launched its inquiry, he told the Commons: “The reality is we now have the shameful spectacle of a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom subject to a police investigation, unable to lead the country and incapable of doing the right thing.”
The following week he tweeted: “Honesty and decency matter. After months of denials the Prime Minister is under criminal investigations for breaking his own lockdown laws. He needs to do the decent thing and resign.”
Last night, Sir Keir was accused of hypocrisy, with critics saying he must now follow his own advice.
Richard Holden, the local Conservative MP who has urged Durham police to investigate beergate, said: “Sir Keir Starmer has relentlessly attacked the Prime Minister over the past year.
“Starmer’s own words should guide his actions if he is an honourable man. If they don’t, he will simply nail on the fact that he is nothing but a cheap political opportunist playing at politics with no interest in the principles he purports
to hold.” Tory MP Mark Harper tweeted: “He made the rules. He can’t get away with it if he’s found to have broken them.”
Sir Keir declined to answer questions yesterday as he walked past reporters and television crews gathered to cover the local election results. In an interview with Sky News, he later said: “Well, as I’ve explained a number of times we were working in the office, we stopped for something to eat. No party, no breach of the rules.
“The police have obviously got their job to do, we should let them get on it. I’m confident no rules were broken.”
Yvette Cooper, the Labour shadow home secretary, declined to say that Sir Keir should resign if he is fined, despite the Labour leader’s calls for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to do just that.
During an interview on BBC Radio Four’s World at One moments after the news of the investigation broke yesterday, Ms Cooper dodged the question.
“I think that the party has always been very clear about this. It was a work event in the middle of a local election campaign,” Ms Cooper said.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, talked of the seriousness of the police inquiry. He told LBC radio: “That is a very serious development... I don’t want to comment on what the outcome of that will be, but obviously it’s serious and we’ve got to look at it when the outcome comes.”
Overnight, Sir Keir saw his party win three Tory councils in London – Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet – but struggle to make the breakthrough desired in the rest of England.
Footage of the gathering at which Sir Keir was spotted drinking beer with some of his colleagues inside Durham’s Miners’ Hall first emerged in January. Durham Constabulary reviewed the video but concluded the matter did not require a full criminal investigation because it did not believe any coronavirus regulations had been breached.” However, after Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, were fined for attending a birthday celebration in Downing Street, the Durham force has faced calls to look at the matter again.
The pressure mounted further when it emerged that Ms Rayner had also been in attendance despite repeated Labour assurances that she was not there. It also subsequently emerged that as well as drinking beer, the group had taken delivery of a takeaway curry, with some reports suggesting as many as 30 people may have been present.
Sir Keir insisted it was not a rule breach because it was a meal break during a work event as party activists campaigned in the Hartlepool by-election.
It is not clear whether Sir Keir will be issued with a fixed-penalty notice even if he is found to have breached the rules.
Keir Starmer @Keir_starmer
Honesty and decency matter. After months of denials the Prime Minister is now under criminal investigations for breaking his own lockdown laws. He needs to do the decent thing and resign.