Beergate: Starmer under pressure after leaked memo indicates dinner was pre-planned
Sir Keir Starmer is facing fresh questions over the so-called ‘beergate’ scandal today after a leaked memo indicated a takeaway and dinner with colleagues in Durham was pre-planned.
The Labour leader was filmed with beer in hand in a room in Durham last April – when covid restriction prohibited gatherings – but he has insisted the video showed an impromptu meal between colleagues after which he continued working.
However, a leaked memo obtained by the Mail on Sunday has now indicated a dinner with local MP Mary Foy in Durham had been planned on the schedule that evening, and a note showed that one of Starmer’s staff was asked to order a takeaway from local curry house Spice Lounge.
Starmer’s only scheduled business after the dinner was to walk back to his hotel, casting doubt on his claims he simply “paused” to eat the meal before continuing work.
The revelations come after Durham Police announced on Friday they would be launching an investigation into whether Starmer broke lockdown rules.
Shadow Housing Minister Lisa Nandy mounted a staunch defence of the Labour leader this morning however, saying she was absolutely confident that no rules were broken.
“This is a guy who self-isolated six times during the pandemic, I don’t know a single other person who did that,” she told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.
“He is Mr Rules, he does not break the rules. He was the Director of Public Prosecutions, not somebody who goes around tearing up rules when it suits him.”
Tory ministers accused the labour leader of double standards over the affair but have stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign.
“Keir Starmer has got to account for the holes in the account the Labour party gave for the beer and curry event in Durham,” Justice Secretary Dominic Raab told Times Radio.
“And probably what’s more important…is just the rank hypocrisy and double standards that he’s personally shown.”