Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has resigned from a keynote address today – as pressure on him intensifies over so-called beergate allegations.
After being a vocal critic of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Downing Street Party rallies during the COVID blockade, Sir Kayer is now facing accusations that he also drank beer in a room with colleagues.
Sir Keir said he worked and stopped eating when he was filmed drinking in Durham last April, at a time when rules forbid mixing households indoors except for work.
Durham police are now investigating the incident after a leak from a Mail of Sunday note revealed that it was in fact pre-planned, contrary to earlier Labor claims that it was decided at night as “no food served anywhere”.
Image: The note outlining the event. Photo: Mail on Sunday
And now the think tank The Institute for Government has confirmed that Sir Cair has withdrawn from the event to discuss “the challenges facing the country”.
Image: The announcement that an event that includes a speech by Labor leader Keir Starmer has been canceled. Photo: Government Institute website
Labor did not offer an explanation as to why their party leader was no longer attending the rally, which was scheduled to precede the Queen’s speech on Tuesday.
But Monday’s Daily Mail claimed Sir Keir was “running away scared”.
Education Minister Michel Donelan told Sky News’s Kay Burley on Monday that if Sir Keir was fined, it would be up to him to decide whether to resign.
But she added: “What my constituents are saying is that this whole thing smells of pure hypocrisy, given the relentless focus he has placed … He must search his soul after making it a top priority in the last few months at the expense of key issues such as rising living costs, etc …. “
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Street accused the Tories of “dusting mud” on Sir Care, saying they had been trying for weeks.
He told Sky News’s Kay Burley: “We’ve had weeks and weeks of Tories throwing mud at Keir Starmer, hoping people will just conclude that we’re all the same, there’s no point in changing prime ministers, because the next one will be so as bad as the current one.
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:16 “Don’t assume Starmer has to resign”
“It’s just not true. I will not go into the game that the Tories are playing with their friends in the media, trying to entangle a decent person and pretend that Keira Starmer’s behavior is in some way comparable to Boris Johnson.
“I don’t know how the Conservatives have a bare cheek to come out greedy and demand resignations and accusations of hypocrisy against a decent man like Keir Starmer.
“They have to tidy up their own house, if not for the sake of decency and honesty in public life, but for the sake of those hundreds of conservative councilors who have lost their seats because their prime minister is a liar.
Labor Lisa Nandi also told Sophie Ridge on Sunday: “It is downright absurd for the Tories to claim that this is in some ways tantamount to a prime minister being investigated by police for 12 separate gatherings, including karaoke parties, bring your own parties. with bottles, quizzes in a pub, suitcases full of wine are smuggled through the back door.
“The prime minister lied about it, he denied that it happened, he denied that he was there. He is clean and laughs.
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:39 Starmer shoots beer
“I am absolutely convinced that no rules have been broken, not least because this was investigated the last time the Conservatives tried to pour mud on us and it was found that Keir Starmer was completely clear.
“This is a man who isolates himself six times during a pandemic.”
Add Comment