Starmer tweet may aid his case in ‘beergate’ police investigation
LOCAL ELECTION campaign messages were sent by Sir Keir Starmer’s social media accounts about a visit to Hull on the night of ‘beergate’ – potentially backing up the Labour leader’s contention his work continued that night after 10pm, The Yorkshire Post can reveal.
Sir Keir is facing a police investigation for a possible breach of coronavirus lockdown laws over a beer-and-curry event in Durham on that same night, April 30, 2021.
A leaked memo published in The Mail on Sunday indicated the takeaway had been planned as part of his itinerary for the day of campaigning and no further work was scheduled after the dinner.
At the time, non-essential retail and outdoor venues including pub gardens were open, but social distancing rules – which included a ban on indoor mixing between households – remained in place.
Sir Keir previously said no restaurants or pubs were open at the time of the alleged breach so “if you didn’t get a takeaway then our team wasn’t eating that evening”. Labour has also indicated that Sir Keir was working, so the meal did not constitute a social event.
The memo showed that the dinner in Durham had been listed on the schedule for Sir Keir’s day in April 2021 during the local election and Hartlepool by-election campaigns. The newspaper also reported that the hotel Sir Keir was staying in was serving food until 9pm.
The document states that there would be a “dinner in Miners Hall” with City of Durham MP Mary Foy from 8.40pm to 10pm – and a note indicates a member of staff in Sir Keir’s office was to arrange the takeaway curry.
The only business listed after the dinner is for Sir Keir to walk back to his hotel. He has previously claimed he “paused for food” and continued working after the meal, saying “the idea that nobody works at 10 o’clock at night is absurd”.
Sir Keir’s social media pages show that a message was sent from his Twitter account at 10.13pm on the evening encouraging people in Hull to vote Labour in the local elections.
It followed a visit to the city earlier that day by Sir Keir where he was accompanied by local Labour MPs Dame Diana Johnson and Emma Hardy.
The tweet said Sir Keir had a “wonderful day in an amazing city”.
It said: “I was touched by the warmth and openness of the people of Hull and the pride they have for their city. It’s a pride shared by their Labour council. Just one week to polling day, vote Labour.”
An identical message was posted on Sir Keir’s Facebook page at 10.16pm the same night.
Both posts were accompanied by a selection of pictures including Sir Keir chatting to drinkers outside the Humber Street Distillery.
Labour did not answer questions from The Yorkshire Post about whether Sir Keir directly runs or signs off messages from his Twitter and Facebook accounts or whether the activity is carried out by a staff member.
It did not answer whether the messages were sent out at the moment they appeared online or had been scheduled earlier in the day.
But a Labour spokesperson said: “We remain clear that no rules were broken and our focus continues to be on tackling the public’s concerns such as the cost of living crisis.”
It comes after an anonymous source who was present at the event told The Sunday Times: “It has been claimed that Starmer worked during the curry and then after the curry. None of those two things happened. He did not go back to work to the best of my knowledge.”
The source said some of those present were not working at all, and “were just there for a jolly”.
Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, told reporters on Saturday: “There was no party, no breach of rules, I am confident of that.”