Starmer’s gamble

Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to announce he would resign if fined for breaking lockdown rules is a calculated gamble designed to put Boris Johnson on the spot. Clearly, the Labour leader does not believe he will be placed in this position once police have completed an investigation into a gathering in Durham last year.

At the time, England was under so-called Step 2 rules. Meeting indoors with people from outside your household or support bubble was against the law. While there was an exemption for “work purposes”, socialising in the office was considered off limits though by then was not specified in the regulations. Labour maintains that the meeting to plan campaigning for the local elections was allowed and the participants were merely having something to eat and drink at the end of the day. However, a similar argument has been used on Mr Johnson’s behalf, though in at least one instance the Met police begged to differ and issued fines.

Durham police might judge that as the rules had been marginally relaxed by the end of April last year there is no case for Sir Keir to answer. The same constabulary did not fine Dominic Cummings for what many believed was a clear breach of the rules. They need to bring this to a head swiftly.

Sir Keir evidently hopes he will be exonerated and can clamber on to a moral horse even higher than the one he now seeks to occupy, further piling the pressure on the Prime Minister. Mr Johnson has insisted he will not resign for breaking laws that his administration introduced. He does not consider it a matter that warrants such a move. But that further underscores the foolishness of making it illegal to have something to eat and drink with colleagues in the first place.