LONDON (Reuters) -British opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer was cleared by police on Friday following an investigation into whether he had broken COVID-19 lockdown laws by pausing for a meal while working.
Alleged breaches of coronavirus rules became a politically explosive issue following the so-called “partygate” scandal, which saw Prime Minister Boris Johnson fined after attending a gathering for his birthday in Downing Street.
Starmer faced his own investigation after a video of him emerged drinking beer at a get-together in April 2021 during an election campaign. Gatherings indoors were banned at the time unless they were essential for work.
Starmer said he had simply paused for a meal and went back to work later. He had pledged to resign if he was found to have broken the rules, seeking to draw a contrast with Johnson, who had already been fined.
Durham Police said in a statement there was “no case to answer for a contravention of the regulations, due to the application of an exception, namely reasonably necessary work”.
“Accordingly, Durham Constabulary will not be issuing any fixed penalty notices in respect of the gathering and no further action will be taken,” the statement added.
Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner, who was also at the gathering and had likewise vowed to resign if fined, both said they had not broken the law.
“We’ve always been clear that no rules were broken in Durham.,” Rayner said on Twitter. “The police have completed their investigation and agreed, saying that there is no case to answer … The contrast with the behaviour of this disgraced Prime Minister couldn’t be clearer.”
The decision comes a day after Johnson announced he would resign, with the revelations of rule-breaking Downing Street parties and his response to these, a major factor fuelling discontent in his Conservative Party against him.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Kate Holton, Muvija M and Elizabeth Piper; editing by Michael Holden)
