Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner have received questionnaires from Durham Police, as officers investigate allegations that they breached Covid lockdown laws.
The duo attended a gathering on April 30 in the constituency office of City of Durham MP, Mary Foy, during which food and alcohol were consumed. Both had been working on Labour’s campaign in the run-up to the May 6 Hartlepool by-election when the gathering happened.
Durham Police had initially deemed that there was no wrongdoing and opted not to investigate, until officers U-turned on launching a probe after “significant new information” came to light.
At the time of the gathering, social distancing rules were in place and a ban on different households mixing indoors had been enforced.
Exemptions were permitted for “work purposes” but there was no explicit reference in the rules to suggest that socialising at work was permitted.
An exemption also allowed for gatherings that were “reasonably necessary for the purposes of campaigning in an election”.
The Labour party insists that the gathering was a work-related event, and that Sir Keir was simply taking the time to eat “between work demands”.
However, there was no mention in the rules that drinking alcohol at work was permitted as part of such events, and the Labour leader was caught on camera drinking beer during the gathering.
Sir Keir and Rayner both deny any wrongdoing and have said that they will step down if the police deem them to have broken Covid rules.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
