Sir Keir Starmer today rejected ‘ridiculous’ comparisons between his own Beergate row and Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street – despite the Labour leader still facing a police probe.
He insisted to MPs that his boozy curry in Durham last year was ‘perfectly legal’ and did not breach Coronavirus restrictions.
But Sir Keir also repeated his pledge to ‘do the decent thing’ and quit if Durham Constabulary find otherwise.
The Labour leader scrambled to separate the Partygate scandal that has engulfed the Prime Minister from allegations he himself broke Covid rules.
Responding to the Sue Gray report on Partygate, Sir Keir claimed the 37-page document would ‘stand as a monument to the hubris and the arrogance of a Government that believed it was one rule for them another rule for everyone else’.
He also demanded that Tory MPs tell Mr Johnson the ‘game is up’ as he pressured them to try and boot the PM out of Downing Street.
Sir Keir Starmer scrambled to separate the Partygate scandal that has engulfed the Prime Minister from allegations he himself broke Covid rules
The Labour leader was pictured sipping a beer as he shared a takeaway with colleagues in Durham last year
Sir Keir demanded that Tory MPs tell Boris Johnson the ‘game is up’ as he pressured them to try and boot the PM out of Downing Street
Durham Constabulary are currently investigating allegations of a lockdown breach in relation to Sir Keir’s Friday night gathering – which was also attended by Labour deputy Angela Rayner – in April 2021.
The Labour leader was pictured sipping a beer as he shared a takeaway with colleagues at what he has repeatedly insisted was a ‘work event’.
Sir Keir has claimed he and Labour officials returned to their duties after the boozy curry in the run-up to local council elections and the Hartlepool by-election.
At the time of the Durham event, England was in the ‘Step 2’ rules that banned people from gathering indoors with people not from your own household.
However, there was an exemption for ‘work purposes’.
Sir Keir’s pledge to quit if – like Mr Johnson – he receives a police fine for breaking Covid rules has prompted renewed speculation over who might replace him as Labour leader.
But, speaking in the House of Commons today, Sir Keir claimed it was ‘ridiculous’ to compare his Beergate row with Partygate.
‘I’ve been clear what leadership looks like,’ he told MPs.
‘I haven’t broken any rules and any attempt to compare a perfectly legal takeaway while working to this catalogue of criminality looks even more ridiculous today.
‘But if the police decide otherwise, I will do the decent thing and step down.
‘The public need to know not all politicians are the same, that not all politicians put themselves above their country, that honesty, integrity and accountability matter.’
The Labour leader claimed Sue Gray’s report on Partygate, published this morning, ‘lays bare the rot’ in No10 under Mr Johnson.
He said it ‘provides definitive proof of how those within that building treated the sacrifices of the British people with utter contempt’.
‘When the dust settles and the anger subsides this report will stand as a monument to the hubris and the arrogance of a Government that believed it was one rule for them another rule for everyone else,’ Sir Keir added.
In a message to Conservative MPs, the Labour leader told them Mr Johnson was ‘steering the country in the wrong direction’.
‘They can hide in the back seat, eyes covered, praying for a miracle – or they can act,’ he said.
‘Stop this out-of-touch, out-of-control Prime Minister from driving Britain towards disaster.
‘We waited for the Sue Gray report, the country can’t wait any longer. The values symbolised by the door of No10 must be restored.’
The Labour leader called on Conservatives to ‘finally do their bit’ and tell the PM ‘this has gone on too long, the game is up’.
‘You cannot be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker and it’s time to pack his bags,’ he added.
‘Only then can the Government function again, only then can the rot be carved out, only then can we restore the dignity of that great office and the democracy that it represents.’
Sir Keir also blasted the PM’s Number 10 staff who had ‘set the bar’ for conduct ‘lower than a snake’s belly’.
He claimed Downing Street were now attempting to ‘pretend’ Mr Johnson had been ‘exonerated’ by Sue Gray.
‘As if the fact he only broke the law once is worthy of praise,’ he added.
