The man who just can’t answer a straight question: Amid claims protection officers may have witnessed beer event, Keir Starmer repeatedly dodges key issues in squirming interviews
- Labour leader repeatedly dodges questions as ‘Beergate’ enters its seventh day
- Keir Starmer refused three times to say whether the police had contacted him
- His party have also refused to comment on whether or not police were present
Keir Starmer was left squirming yesterday as he struggled to fend off urgent questions over ‘Beergate’.
During a series of bruising interviews, the Labour leader refused three times to say whether police have been in touch with him following fresh revelations in the Daily Mail.
Sir Keir also snapped angrily at a journalist who questioned whether he had really gone back to work after his 10pm beer and curry with his deputy Angela Rayner and party officials.
Labour’s defence hangs on the unsubstantiated claim that he had carried on with campaigning duties after the late-night meal in Durham. The party yesterday refused to specify what, if any, work was done.
But Sir Keir said it was ‘absurd’ to suggest that the Friday night drink on April 20, 2021, was the end of his working day.
During a series of bruising interviews, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer refused three times to say whether police have been in touch with him following fresh revelations in the Daily Mail
Durham Constabulary is under mounting pressure to reopen its investigation into the event at the offices of Durham MP Mary Foy in the run-up to last year’s local elections
Last night a picture emerged of what may have been his official car (above) in Durham that evening. This raises the prospect that his police protection team might be able to provide bombshell testimony, in the same way that officers are being asked for their recollections of ‘Partygate’ events in Downing Street
Last night a picture emerged of what may have been his official car in Durham that evening.
This raises the prospect that his police protection team might be able to provide bombshell testimony, in the same way that officers are being asked for their recollections of ‘Partygate’ events in Downing Street.
Labour last night declined to comment on the picture, or on whether police were present at the event in Durham Miners Hall. A source said the party would never ‘get into security arrangements’.
But Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries urged Sir Keir to come clean about the event in order to allay further suspicions.
She added: ‘The natural reaction to his refusal to give a straight answer is to suspect that he is hiding something.’
Two students who filmed the incident yesterday told the Mail they had been shocked to witness the Labour leader at what appeared to be a rule-breaking social event.
One said: ‘Keir Starmer had been so vocal about pushing for more lockdown restrictions, so when I saw him I thought, “What a hypocrite” – the hypocrisy really annoyed me. So I got my phone and started to film them.’
The second student said several more people were at the event than were visible in the video footage, adding: ‘It seemed like what you’d do at the end of a good day’s work when the boss says to get something in as a reward. It was a Friday night.’
Durham Constabulary is under mounting pressure to reopen its investigation into the event at the offices of Durham MP Mary Foy in the run-up to last year’s local elections.
It refused yesterday to make any further comment on the case, including whether it has been in contact with Sir Keir’s office.
But senior figures said it was untenable for the force to continue to ignore the allegations of law-breaking by a politician seeking to be prime minister.
Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan yesterday became the latest Cabinet minister to urge the police to look again at whether Sir Keir broke Covid rules. She said officers should see whether a fine was appropriate – as had been issued to Boris Johnson and others over a Downing Street event.
Julia Mulligan, Conservative former police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire Police, said: ‘There cannot be a double standard in the investigation of Covid restrictions cases across police force areas. It can’t be one rule in London and another rule in Durham.’
North West Durham MP Richard Holden, who has been leading calls for a probe, said: ‘This is an issue that Keir Starmer has hammered on about for month after month when it involves the PM. I just want to make sure that he is held to the same standard.’
The Mail revealed last week that Labour had lied about Mrs Rayner’s presence at the event for three months before being presented with proof she was there.
At the weekend a local takeaway driver recalled delivering a large curry order for up to 30 people, before later retracting his story.
Sir Keir yesterday angrily denied wrongdoing, saying the accusations were politically motivated.
In a fractious interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: ‘We were working, we stopped for food, no party, no rules were broken; I don’t know what I can add to that.’
Asked whether he had returned to work after the beer, he replied: ‘Yes, the idea that nobody works at ten o’clock at night is absurd.’
Sir Keir refused three times to say whether Durham police had contacted him after announcing last week that they would consider a request to review their decision not to fully investigate the case.
A Labour source said it was ‘self-evident’ the police had not been in touch as they had not reopened the investigation.
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