Sir Keir Starmer has been cleared of an allegation that suggested he broke lockdown rules when filmed drinking a beer in an office.
The Labour leader was in the City of Durham MP’s office working in the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election in April 2021 when he was filmed having the drink.
He has previously insisted he did nothing wrong, despite many drawing comparisons to lockdown party allegations at Downing Street.
Durham police have now confirmed they did not believe any offence was committed.
Our national story about Covid is one of a country that stood up when it was tested.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 31, 2022
But that will forever be tainted by the behaviour of this Conservative Prime Minister.
By routinely breaking the rules he set, Boris Johnson took the public for fools.
My full statement: pic.twitter.com/hxDECNrdpD
A spokesman for the force said: “Durham Constabulary has reviewed video footage recorded in Durham on April 30 2021.
“We do not believe an offence has been established in relation to the legislation and guidance in place at that time and will therefore take no further action in relation to this matter.”
Sir Keir has previously told LBC Radio: “The restrictions allowed people to work when they needed to, we were running an election campaign, we were in a constituency office.”
He said no restaurants or pubs were open and the hotel he and colleagues were staying in did not serve food, so “if you didn’t get a takeaway then our team wasn’t eating that evening”.
Asked if he was prepared to apologise, Sir Keir said: “We didn’t break any rules, we were working in the office and we stopped for a takeaway.”
He added: “We did nothing wrong.”
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