With Starmer facing fresh allegations that he breached Covid rules in 2020, comparisons are being made to the last time his conduct was questioned during the pandemic, which resulted in a costly police investigation that cost the taxpayer a tidy sum.
The latest scandal comes after Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund alleged Starmer hired actress and communications skills coach Leonie Mellinger to improve his speeches during his time as opposition leader in their new book “Get In”.
The book claims Mellinger visited Labour headquarters wearing a mask on Christmas Eve 2020 to advise Starmer on his response to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
At the time, London was under stringent Tier 4 ‘Stay at Home’ restrictions following a surge in Covid infections linked to a new variant. The coach reportedly qualified for ‘key worker’ status during the pandemic.
However, questions have been raised about whether this meeting complied with Covid regulations, which defined key workers as those essential to public services – including those on the frontline of health, social care and transport.
It is believed that Starmer was working with a small team to prepare his response to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal while a TV camera captured the entire process.
Conservative former minister Richard Holden has written to Sir Keir asking whether he thinks he was breaching the law.
A Labour spokesman said: “The rules were followed at all times.”
Durham Constabulary’s investigation into beergate came at a substantial cost to the taxpayer
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This isn’t the first time Holden has scrutinised Starmer’s behaviour during lockdown.
He raised concerns about the Labour leader’s actions during the “Beergate” incident, where Starmer and then-shadow deputy leader Angela Rayner were photographed consuming beer and takeaway food at a Labour Party meeting held in Durham amidst a local election campaign in April 2021.
At the time, England was under COVID-19 restrictions, and indoor social gatherings were banned except in workplaces where they were deemed necessary.
The gathering took place inside a constituency office, raising questions about whether Labour had broken lockdown rules.
Labour claimed at the time that unlike the Partygate scandal involving then-Prime Minister Johnson, this was not a rule-breaking event but simply a dinner break.
Nonetheless, following public and political pressure, Durham Constabulary launched an inquiry into the incident in May 2022.
In July of that year, the police cleared both Starmer and Rayner, concluding that no COVID-19 rules had been broken.
It transpired months later that the investigation came at a substantial cost to the taxpayer.
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Starmer’s party claimed at the time that beergate was not a rule-breaking event but simply a dinner break
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Responding to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in September 2022, the force revealed the probe cost the public a whopping £101,000.
It was also revealed that nine officers spent about 3,200 hours on the Beergate investigation.
Responding to the latest allegations, Health Minister Karin Smyth dismissed the claims, telling GB News: “I think what we’re seeing again is more mudslinging by the Tories on this issue at a time when they were partying.
“We’ve got all the evidence of that and the sorry tale of that. Keir was working. Working was allowed in tier four in London at that time.”