Starmer under fresh scrutiny in relation to lockdown beer incident

Following further claims from the Conservative MP for North West Durham that the Labour leader may have broke lockdown rules at an event last year, a letter has emerged from the Deputy Chief Constable of Durham suggesting the force will make ‘further enquiries’ into the incident.

An online video appears to show the Labour leader, drinking beer at a party meeting in Durham last April. Durham police have previously stated that they did not believe there was a rule breach.  However the letter from Deputy Chief Constable, Claron Irvine, published in the Daily Mail, now suggests that the matter may not be fully closed.

The incident is said to have occurred in the office of the local Labour MP,  Mary Foy.  The pictures of Sir Keir Starmer drinking beer were said to have been taken at a time when Durham was in Tier 2 restrictions, rules which prevented socializing indoors except with your household or support bubble.

The Labour Party have hitherto maintained that the event was a work meeting.

In a letter to the Durham constabulary, the local Conservative MP Richard Holden has now suggested that an invitation existed online for an in person ‘Quiz and Social’ event, at the same location where the Labour leader was reported to have been pictured drinking beer.

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has already branded  Sir Keir Starmer is a ‘hypocrite’, suggesting that the labour leader should be ‘subjected to the same standards’ as the prime minister.  In January, Sir Keir was previously directly subject to the same claim by a caller to a radio phone in show in which he was participating.

Boris Johnson has already received one fixed penalty notice from police in relation to lockdown gatherings, with the potential for more Downing Street fines still to come as the police conclude their investigations.