Keir in the clear over lockdown beer
Sir Keir Starmer has been cleared of committing a criminal offence after an image of him drinking a beer with colleagues was unearthed last month.
Durham police on Monday said no clear breach of Covid lockdown rules was found after video footage showing Starmer drinking beer with members of his team in Durham in April last year was first published by Daily Mail, before being widely circulated.
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Durham Constabulary issued the following statement: “We do not believe an offence has been established in relation to the legislation and guidance in place at the time and will therefore take no further action in relation to this matter.”
The Shadow Cabinet leader has previously
defended his team's actions, saying “it was perfectly lawful to meet for work”. At the time, England was in step two of the
roadmap out of lockdown, with indoor mixing between households only allowed for work purposes.
Starmer explained how he and his colleagues "were working, a takeaway turned up, and we stopped to eat it. We didn't break any rules, we did nothing wrong."
The picture was taken outside a constituency office just days before the
Hartlepool by-election, the seat in which
Labour suffered a historic defeat this time around.
Starmer said his actions were in no way comparable to the
spate of illegal parties held at Downing Street throughout the lockdown, as he had simply shared a brief social moment in the middle of a work event.
The Met police are
still investigating Prime Minister
Boris Johnson's attendance at
as many as 18 alleged events following the release of
Sue Gray's abridged report on the scandal.
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