Sir Keir Starmer will not face police action after he was photographed drinking in his home with co-workers during last year’s lockdown as police said ‘no offense was committed’ .
The Labor leader, 59, was seen drinking from a bottle in the Durham constituency shortly before local elections in April – while ‘step two’ Covid restrictions remain in place use.
Conservative MPs have asked police to investigate an allegation of a lockdown breach, insisting it makes ‘no difference’ to the growing pressure Boris Johnson faces over the Partygate scandal at Downing Street.
However, Durham Police have confirmed they will not be taking any further action after the force ‘reviewed’ Sir Keir’s footage last month, The Sun reported.
A spokesman said: ‘We do not believe an offense has been established in relation to the law and guidelines at the time.
‘We will therefore take no further action.’
The Labor leader insisted there was ‘no comparison’ to his actions and to the Prime Minister’s attendance at an event in the Downing Street garden where 100 people were invited to ‘bring your own wine’.
The Labor leader was photographed drinking indoors with colleagues just before last year’s local election
Prime Minister Boris Johnson turns to Sir Keir Starmer in last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions
However, David Morris, the Tory MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, told the Commons last month there was ‘no difference’ between what Boris Johnson and Sir Keir have been accused of.
And Alexander Stafford, the Tory MP for Rother Valley, said there should be no ‘hypocrisy’ and that ‘all parties need to be investigated’.
He told MPs: ‘People in greenhouses should not throw beer bottles.’
At the time, Britain was in ‘step two’ of the shutdown – when indoor communication with people outside the family was banned.
Conservative MPs spoke out after an urgent question about the latest No 10 revelations, answered by Paymaster General Michael Ellis.
Mr Morris said: ‘Will General Paymaster consider the Metropolitan Police, or any other police force, looking into the Opposition Leader’s activities with his beer party? As far as I can see there is no difference. What did he say to that? ‘ Mr Ellis said the MP made an ‘interesting point’.
“Of course, police investigations and how they are conducted are operationally independent,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll hear what he has to say.”
Mr Stafford said: ‘I know that myself, colleagues and voters have been shocked by the lockdown rule allegedly broken by none other than the Leader of the Opposition.’
Sir Keir has said there is no comparison to his actions and the Prime Minister’s attendance at an event in the Downing Street gardens
He added: ‘Does the minister agree that there can be no hypocrisy and that all parties need to be investigated? After all, people in the greenhouse should not throw beer bottles. ‘
Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle intervened to question the use of the word ‘hypocrisy’.
But Mr Ellis said: ‘There’s nothing in the law that forbids people who are legally at work to take a 10-minute coffee break between meetings, and I’m sure people across the country did, no matter what. do they eat cake with it or not. The fact of the matter is that my venerable friend’s point of view is absolutely correct. ‘
