Police accused of playing politics over probe delay

DURHAM Police faced calls to explain last night why it waited until after the local council elections to reveal it was investigating Sir Keir Starmer over Beergate.

The force said ‘significant new information’ led to it reopening the probe before polling day, but it only disclosed this on Friday afternoon after ‘the conclusion of the pre-election period’.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, compared its response to that of the Met Police in London, which has fined Boris Johnson over Partygate.

‘Why did Durham Police delay their announcement when the Met did not delay for Boris Johnson? The Met went straight out with it a few weeks before the local elections,’ he said. Why are they behaving differently? The Met is looking at everything in a very pedantic way, whereas I understand Durham has one of the lowest levels of Covid-related sanctions in the country.’

Scotland Yard has issued nearly 17 times as many fixed-penalty notices for Covid rule-breaking as Durham Constabulary.

The Met said on April 21 that it would not issue any more Partygate updates until after the local elections. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said:

‘It’s interesting that Sir Keir refused to answer questions about whether he’d been contacted by Durham Police prior to polling day. It’s difficult to believe that he hadn’t. What did he know and when did he know it? Friday’s announcement surely didn’t come as a surprise.’

Commenting on the force’s decision to delay news that it was reopening the probe, ITV News political editor Robert Peston said: ‘Many would say this was material information for voters and withholding it was a political action. The interaction of police and politics is an utter mess.’