Sir Keir Starmer cleared over lockdown beer as Durham Police ‘believe no offence was committed’
Sir Keir Starmer will not face police action after he was pictured drinking indoors with colleagues during lockdown last year as police say ‘no offence was committed’.
The Labour leader, 59, was seen drinking from a bottle in a Durham constituency shortly before the local elections in April – while ‘step two’ Covid restrictions were still in place.
Conservative MPs demanded police investigate the alleged lockdown breach, claiming there was ‘no difference’ to the increasing pressure faced by Boris Johnson over the Partygate scandal at Downing Street.
However, Durham Police has confirmed it will not be taking any further action after the force ‘reviewed’ the footage of Sir Keir last month, The Sun reports.
A spokesperson said: ‘We do not believe an offence has been established in relation to the legislation and guidance in place at that time.
‘We will, therefore, take no further action.’
The Labour leader insisted there was ‘no comparison’ with his actions and the Prime Minister’s attendance at an event in the Downing Street garden where 100 had been invited to ‘bring your own booze’.
The Labour leader was pictured drinking indoors with colleagues just before last year’s local elections
Prime Minister Boris Johnson points across towards Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions last week
However, David Morris, Tory MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, told the Commons last month there was ‘no difference’ between what Boris Johnson and Sir Keir had been accused of.
And Alexander Stafford, Tory MP for Rother Valley, said there should be no ‘hypocrisy’ and that ‘all sides need to be investigated’.
He told MPs: ‘Those in glass houses should not throw beer bottles.’
At the time, England was in ‘step two’ of the roadmap out of lockdown – when indoor socialising with people from outside the household was banned.
The Conservative MPs spoke out following an urgent question on the latest No 10 party revelations, answered by Paymaster General Michael Ellis.
Mr Morris said: ‘Would the Paymaster General consider the Metropolitan Police, or any other police force, looking into the activities of the Leader of the Opposition with his beer party? As far as I can see there is no difference. What does he say to that?’ Mr Ellis said the MP had made an ‘interesting point’.
‘Of course, police investigations and how they are conducted are operationally independent,’ he said. ‘I am sure that they will have heard what he said.’
Mr Stafford said: ‘I know that I myself, colleagues and constituents were shocked by the alleged lockdown rule breaking by none other than the Leader of the Opposition.’
Sir Keir has said there was ‘no comparison’ with his actions and the Prime Minister’s attendance at an event in the Downing Street garden
He added: ‘Does the minister agree that there can be no hypocrisy and that all sides need to be investigated? After all, those in glass houses should not throw beer bottles.’
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle intervened to question the use of the word ‘hypocrisy’.
But Mr Ellis said: ‘Nothing in the law forbade people who were legitimately at work from having a ten-minute coffee break in between meetings, and I am sure that people across the country did that, whether they ate cake with it or not. The reality of the matter is that my honourable friend’s point is completely accurate.’