A meme-fest has been trending on social media after Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer were pictured laughing together ahead of the State Opening of Parliament.
The UK prime minister and the Labour Party leader, who have both been facing backlash for the so-called “partygate” row and its “spin-off” – “beergate” – were caught on camera while walking through the lobby of the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday morning.
Throughout the past few weeks, the two politicians have locked horns over fallout from the scandal the Tories have found themselves in.
In a statement on Monday, Starmer said he will do the "right thing" if he were issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice in relation to a gathering where he was seen drinking a beer in the office of City of Durham MP Mary Foy in April 2021. England was in "Step 2" coronavirus rules at the time, when different households were banned from gathering indoors.
Starmer has repeatedly stressed he was working on the night in question.
Meanwhile, the UK prime minister has already been fined by the police over a surprise birthday party for him in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 that was ruled to have breached COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
Reacting to Tuesday’s image of the two political rivals, Tory MP Greg Hands suggested on Twitter that Johnson had jokingly asked Starmer about his weekend.
Twitter users offered their own captions, some wondering if, perhaps, the two were “laughing at their police records”, or whether they were “secretly best mates”.
The Poke, a British satirical website, launched a challenge for captions to the snapshot of Johnson and Starmer together.