Conservative MP Richard Holden has again written to Durham police, now asking them to probe Labour leader Keir Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner over alleged COVID breaches last year related to the so-called “Beergate” scandal.
In a letter to Deputy Chief Constable Ciaron Irvine, Holden referred to Starmer’s and Rayner’s alleged “breaches of coronavirus regulations in Durham on 30 April 2021, when the Labour leader was filmed drinking beer and socialising while social gatherings were banned”.
The MP also singled out new “incontrovertible evidence”, which he claimed “shows clearly that the Labour Party have lied about” the 30 April 2021 event, trying “to cover up their Deputy Leader Angela Rayner’s presence at the social”.
“It appears completely implausible that the social gathering filmed where Keir Starmer was drinking beer was ‘reasonably necessary for work purposes’. […] Put simply – Sir Keir Starmer cannot be right when he claimed he was taking a break from work. This was clearly a social event that took place after the end of the working day, in clear breach of restrictions,” Holden argued.
The lawmaker’s new letter comes after the Labour Party confirmed that Rayner did attend last year’s event where Starmer was caught on camera drinking beer with activists during a COVID lockdown.
The party admitted that it had previously told journalists that Rayner was not present at the gathering, with an unnamed Labour source telling the PA news agency that it was a “mistake made in good faith”.
A Labour spokesperson in turn insisted that it’s irrelevant to draw parallels between the 30 April 2021 gathering and parties which took place at Downing Street last year.
“Keir Starmer was in the workplace, meeting a local MP in her constituency office and participating in an online Labour Party event. They paused for food as the meeting was during the evening. No rules were broken. There is simply no comparison between standing in a kitchen having something to eat between meetings, with multiple, flagrant rule breaking drinks parties at the heart of Government, dismissed by lies at the dispatch box and resulting in an apology to the Queen,” the spokesperson asserted.
This was echoed by Starmer who claimed that “whether Angela Rayner was there or not makes absolutely no difference – there was no breach of the rules, the matter has already been looked into”.
Cabinet ministers has, meanwhile, joined last night joined calls for a new probe into the “Beergate” row, with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries arguing that Labour had told “a tissue of lies” and that she did not see how Durham Constabulary could fail to act.
This followed Durham Constabulary vowing earlier this week to consider a request from Holden to launch a full-fledged probe into allegations Starmer broke coronavirus lockdown rules in 2021.
In February, the police decided not to open a probe after reviewing a video of Starmer “drinking and socialising” at an MP’s office on 30 April 2021. Durham Constabulary said at the time they did not believe any offence had been committed by the Labour leader.
This week, a Durham police spokesperson said that they “were sent a letter by MP Richard Holden on 22 April”, which urged them to review their controversial decision that cleared Starmer. The spokesman added that “as a courtesy, we have replied to Mr Holden to confirm we have received that letter and will consider its contents before responding in due course”.
The developments come after senior Tory members called for a full probe into Starmer’s conduct, arguing that there appeared to be no difference between the event that he attended and the 2020 Downing Street “birthday party”, for which Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fined £50 ($62 dollars) by the Metropolitan Police earlier this month.
Culture Secretary Dorries asserted that the Labour leader “has used every trick in the book to attack the PM over his handling of events in No 10, yet he doesn’t want to be held to the same standard the PM has subjected himself to”.
Earlier in April, Starmer led a chorus of criticism as he insisted that BoJo “misled” parliament over “partygate”. Starmer described Johnson as “a man without shame” during an exchange in the Commons, as Johnson last week addressed MPs for the first time since receiving his Scotland Yard fine.
The PM said at the time that it had not occurred to him that the social gathering in June 2020 was a breach of COVID rules, with the Labour leader accusing BoJo of dishonesty and failure to “respect the sacrifice of the British public”.