Starmer may avoid resignation thanks to a technicality

SIR KEIR STARMER hopes to dodge resignation on a technicality if he broke Covid rules but is not fined.

Labour sources say the party leader will not resign unless Durham police issues him with a fixed penalty notice, despite his statement on Monday that he believes in “the principle that those who make the laws must follow them”.

Durham Constabulary, who are running the investigation into the curry and beer event in April 2021, have a policy not to issue retrospective fines and may choose to treat Sir Keir the same as any other member of the public.

After Dominic Cummings was reported to the force in 2020 for his infamous trip to Barnard Castle, detectives chose not to issue a fixed penalty notice but issued a statement that suggested he “may” have broken the rules.

Detectives privately believed the rules had been breached by Mr Cummings but did not want to act as “judge and jury” on the matter.

While the force is saying little about the investigation in public, a police source indicated that it would be difficult for officers to act differently over “beergate” – the accusation that Sir Keir broke Covid regulations by drinking beer and eating curry with his staff.

A Durham Constabulary source said: “The force was very clear when dealing with Dominic Cummings that everyone must be treated in the same way.

“The problem with that policy is that if the force decides to hand Sir Keir Starmer a fixed penalty notice they will be accused of treating him differently to Mr Cummings and everyone else. It could be a real headache for those running the investigation.”

Sir Keir has said he will stand down if fined, but he will not leave office if he is merely reprimanded. Sources close to the leader and one member of his shadow cabinet suggested that the issuing of a fixed penalty notice was the test of whether the law had been breached, and that any other action from the police would not be a resigning matter.

Durham has gone further than it did over Mr Cummings’s alleged rule breaking by launching a full investigation. Labour has prepared a dossier of evidence to submit to police that it believes will prove Sir Keir’s innocence.