Sir Beer Korma: Labour Leaders Starmer and Rayner Receive Police Lockdown Questionnaires

Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner hold their first shadow c
Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The so-called ‘partygate’ scandals roll on, but now with the leaders of the left-wing opposition Labour Party who have been served questionnaires from police in Durham who are investigating an alleged breach of lockdown regulations last year.

The Conservative government of Boris Johnson has been rocked by months of lockdown-busting events at government buildings breaking rules they created, but now — despite Labour having been in the vanguard of calls for Johnson and his colleagues to resign over the revelations — Labour’s top leaders are being investigated by police over a similar scandal.

The Labour Party has confirmed that leader Sir Kier Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner have been issued official questionnaires from the Durham Police force over a gathering featuring curry and beer while the pair were campaigning during last year’s election in Hartlepool.

At the time of the alleged breach of lockdown regulations, the people of Britain were barred from socialising with anyone outside of their household or “support bubble”, though there were exceptions made for working.

The key question for police then will be to determine if the gathering, which appeared to be after hours, was, as Starmer has maintained, actually work related or not.

According to information obtained by The Guardian, the police are considering personally interviewing Starmer, meaning that the controversy surrounding his leadership of the left-wing party will likely continue for weeks.

Sir Keir has vowed that he would resign from his post if the police have found him to be in violation of the law in an attempt to differentiate himself from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has so far refused to step down despite receiving a fine from the police over a boozy lockdown violation of his own in Downing Street.

“If the police decide to issue me with a fixed penalty notice, I would of course do the right thing and step down,” Starmer said earlier this month.

“The idea that I would… casually break those rules is wrong. And frankly, I do not think those who accuse me of breaking the rules believe it themselves…. I believe in honour, integrity and the principle that those who [make] the laws must follow them,” he added.

However, many on the right have accused the Labour leader of hypocrisy, given his constant attempts to wield the lockdown violations of Johnson against the Conservative government.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, who is attempting to rebound from the release of the Sue Gray report — which featured tales of drunken parties by staff members inside Downing Street while the rest of the country was forced to abide by restrictions which the government apparently didn’t deem necessary to keep themselves safe — has attempted to paint the violations in a warmer light on Wednesday.

Johnson said that he was “taken aback” by being fined by the police, and tried to justify his attendance at leaving events for outgoing colleges as a means of keeping up “morale” within the government during the pandemic.

“This was a time when we had to keep morale high, when the whole place was under a huge amount of pressure,” he said.

“All I can say is everybody who is here, we’re in the building where everyone is working blindingly hard. They were all under the rules meant to be here. What I thought I was doing was simply doing what is right for a leader in any circumstances, and that’s to thank people for their service,” Johnson added.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.