Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labor party, is under renewed Conservative pressure over a so-called “merger”, after new evidence emerged that the closing dinner he attended with colleagues pre-planned business.
On Sunday, Labor announced Starmer was a victim of Tory “muckraking”, but the reopening of the police investigation on beer and curry meal in Durham in April 2021 lifted prime minister Boris Johnson’s spirits after a string of disastrous Tory local election results.
Johnson’s colleagues said he was “furious” at Starmer’s annoyance. A person close to the prime minister said: “He couldn’t stand Starmer and thought he was on the run.
Starmer on Sunday pulled out of a speech scheduled for Monday in which he planned to set out Labour’s agenda and face questions from journalists. “Plans change,” a party spokesman said.
Although Johnson himself still faces some questions about his involvement in the “party” of violating Covid rules at Downing Street during the lockdown, the Tory strategist believes that Starmer’s difficulties will help shorten this problem.
A Labor document, published of Mail on Sundayadded pressure on Starmer as it showed that a dinner in Durham with local MP Mary Foy and staff last April was part of the set campaign schedule.
Labor officials have said Starmer ate “among the demands of the job”. But the Labor memo showed an 80-minute dinner as part of his schedule, including a return to the hotel after the meal.
The Labor Leader insisted that no rules had been broken, but Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, on Sunday said Starmer had “a bunch of questions to answer” about the Durham incident.
Covid lockdown rules last April made it illegal for Britons to socialize indoors with people outside their households or support bubbles.
Durham Police have reopened their investigation into the incident, having previously decided that no offense was committed, following a lengthy campaign by Tory MPs and Conservative newspapers to look into the matter. problem again.
Lisa Nandy, shadow promotion secretary, told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the charges against Starmer are “absurd” and that the Labor leader is “Mr Rules”. When asked if Starmer should quit her job if he was fined, she declined to answer “assumptive” questions.
Raab refused to call for Starmer to step down, arguing that the Conservatives were looking at the bigger political picture, but the Labor leader’s views were potentially serious if he were to receive a fine.
Starmer, the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, called for Johnson to step down after the Metropolitan Police opened an investigation into his involvement in the litigation, even before the prime minister was fined.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the partygate incident was much more serious than a “merger” event, but said that any politician who is given a notice by the police of a fixed penalty will find it “extremely difficult” to continue.
