Keir Starmer says cops never contacted him about office beer

Keir Starmer has said that Durham police had not approached him regarding a beer and takeout with staff in a constituency office last year, claiming that he was always “very careful” to follow lockdown guidelines.

After days of coverage in the Daily Mail and Conservative MPs requesting authorities to look into the event, the Labour leader offered his first comprehensive explanation of what transpired on the night in April last year.

When asked if the cops had contacted him, Starmer replied: “No, I think they put out a statement last week saying they’re not reinvestigating and they haven’t spoken to me.”

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that sharing a lunch with colleagues after campaigning and when they were working late did not violate the regulations.

“We’re on the road. At the end of the day we’re in the office preparing,” he said. “Now that evening, from memory we were doing an online event for members … At some point, this was in the evening, everybody’s hungry and a takeaway was ordered.

“It was then delivered to the kitchen of the offices … In Durham, all restaurants and pubs were closed, so takeaways really were the only way you could eat. So this was brought in and at various points people went through to the kitchen and had something to eat, and got on with their work.”

“We were very careful to abide by the rules … and we did it within my family. My wife’s father is very elderly and had to shield in difficult circumstances that I won’t go into. My wife went and sat on the pavement outside his house. All she wanted to do, like many families, is she wanted to go in and clean and she didn’t because the rules didn’t allow her. So I know what that feels like.” He added.