British opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer has faced his toughest grilling yet over the 'Beergate' lockdown-busting scandal from ITV's Loose Women.
The Labour Party leader turned up for Monday's edition of the lunchtime talk show expecting to talk about his mother Josephine's battle with arthritis.
But hosts Ruth Langsford, Linda Robson, Brenda Edwards and Jane Moore pinned him down on the re-opened Durham Constabulary probe into the curry and beer night he and deputy leader Angela Rayner attended with more than a dozen local activists in breach of lockdown restrictions.
Langsford pointed to a recent poll that found 63 percent of voters thought Starmer was a "hypocrite" for repeatedly demanding Prime Minister Boris Johnson resign both before and after he was handed a £50 fine over a surprise birthday party for him at 10 Downing Street during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
"I think the big difference is that I've been very clear that I haven't broken the rules," Starmer claimed, pre-empting the outcome of the investigation. "But equally I've said that if the police do issue me with a fixed penalty notice, I will do the right thing and I will step down, so I've put everything on the line because I think that's the right thing to do."
The former director of public prosecutions admitted there were "about 15" party members at the campaign gathering in Durham in April 2021, when he had previously insisted only six people were there in line with lockdown limits on socialising. Party sources denied Rayner's attendance until evidence came out a few weeks ago.
"But you'd had a curry takeaway for 30 people delivered, as we understand it," Langsford pointed out. "No it wasn't 30 people, that's already been retracted," Starmer insisted.
"How many was it?" Moore cut in. "About 15 or so," Starmer admitted, avoiding eye contact. "It's still a lot," Moore shot back.