Beergate

and colleagues used Mary Foy's office Beergate, or Currygate, was a British political controversy concerning allegations that an event in Durham on 30 April 2021, attended by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, could have been in breach of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Labour and Starmer said, at the time and since, that the event complied with the rules for work gatherings, with a pause for food. The police, after investigating, cleared the Labour attendees, including Starmer and Rayner. At the Durham event, shortly before the Hartlepool by-election and local elections, a Labour Party campaign team of seventeen people, including Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner, used the office of MP Mary Foy. Around 10 pm, a student Ivo Delingpole, took a short video through the office window of the event. Next day, The Sun published a brief story including Labour's statement that this was a permissible work event, and pictures from the video showing Starmer with a beer while others ate a takeaway. The story then got little attention. While responding to Partygate allegations in December 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the Durham event. In January 2022, he apologised for attending a "socially distanced drinks" gathering, saying he had believed it was a work event.…

and colleagues used Mary Foy's office Beergate, or Currygate, was a British political controversy concerning allegations that an event in Durham on 30 April 2021, attended by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, could have been in breach of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Labour and Starmer said, at the time and since, that the event complied with the rules for work gatherings, with a pause for food. The police, after investigating, cleared the Labour attendees, including Starmer and Rayner. At the Durham event, shortly before the Hartlepool by-election and local elections, a Labour Party campaign team of seventeen people, including Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner, used the office of MP Mary Foy. Around 10 pm, a student Ivo Delingpole, took a short video through the office window of the event. Next day, The Sun published a brief story including Labour's statement that this was a permissible work event, and pictures from the video showing Starmer with a beer while others ate a takeaway. The story then got little attention. While responding to Partygate allegations in December 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the Durham event. In January 2022, he apologised for attending a "socially distanced drinks" gathering, saying he had believed it was a work event. Starmer said Johnson had breached the Ministerial Code by misleading Parliament, and asked him to resign. Conservatives featured in The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail called Starmer a hypocrite, alleging that he had similarly breached lockdown rules. On 7 February 2022, Durham Constabulary cleared Starmer over the allegation. They had reviewed the video and did not believe an offence had been established, so would take no further action. On 12 April 2022, after Johnson was given a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for breaching COVID-19 regulations, Starmer again said Johnson should resign. Press and Conservatives made allegations about the Durham event and demanded a detailed investigation, on 6 May Durham Constabulary said they had begun investigating as new evidence had emerged. On 9 May, Starmer and Rayner said they were confident they had not broken any rules, but would resign if issued with FPNs, to demonstrate what they said were different principles to Johnson who remained in office. On 8 July 2022, Durham Constabulary announced that all attendees, including Rayner and Starmer, had been cleared of any wrongdoing. By then, the government was in crisis, and on 7 July Johnson had announced his resignation.

Response to Partygate

The Durham event was ignored until December 2021 when Partygate media investigations led to allegations that multiple staff gatherings in 2020 and early 2021 at Downing Street as well as other government offices had breached COVID-19 lockdown restrictions (the scandal would later lead to fixed penalty notices being issued and multiple government apologies). Starmer strongly criticised Johnson for not acknowledging this rule breaking. Political correspondent Andrew Sparrow at The Guardian said it suited Conservatives defending Johnson to suggest that the single Durham event showed that "all politicians broke the rules", and they made the story a minor line of attack. On 8 December 2021, at PMQs, after a video clip from a year earlier showed Downing Street Press Secretary Allegra Stratton laughing about lockdown parties, Starmer accused Johnson of "taking the public for fools" and doubted his "moral authority to lead". At the next PMQs, Johnson said Starmer "might explain why there are pictures of him quaffing beer—we have not heard him do so." ITV News journalist Paul Brand related this to The Sun s story about the Durham event, which had shown the photograph of Starmer with a beer in an election "booze row". Johnson came under increasing pressure, including from Conservatives, after allegations that his Secretary Martin Reynolds had invited over a hundred staff to "socially distanced drinks". Johnson apologised at PMQs on 12 January 2022 for briefly attending the drinks party, but said he "believed implicitly that this was a work event" which "could be said technically to fall within the guidance." In reply, Starmer accused Johnson of "months of deceit" breaching the Ministerial Code which says "ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation", and asked if Johnson did "not see why the British public think he is lying through his teeth?" Starmer also tweeted: "The party is over Boris Johnson. Resign". The Daily Telegraph said on 13 January that Labour faced a "booze row": a "senior Tory" had responded to Starmer's statements by citing the Durham image showing Starmer drinking with party staff, "standing close to two other people while another pair congregated in the background." The senior Tory alleged that Starmer had "spent the past two months criticising people for doing the exact same thing he's been doing himself", and called him "an absolute hypocrite." For its 15 January 2022 front page, the Daily Mail headlined the picture from the video with "Starmer the Covid party hypocrite". Conservative MPs Andrew Bridgen and Iain Duncan Smith both accused Labour of hypocrisy, Bridgen said Starmer should refer himself and others in the photograph for investigation, Duncan Smith said Starmer should apologise. The controversy has been called "beergate" and "currygate".

Responses to pledges

Conservative MPs Michael Fabricant and Chris Philp accused Starmer's FPN statement of attempting to pressure the police into clearing him. In its 10 May edition, the Daily Mail said Starmer's pledge to resign if issued a penalty "placed detectives in the difficult position" given the potential political implications of their decision, with one government source suggesting Durham Constabulary could be under "undue pressure" to clear Starmer or refrain from fining him. Its position was described by The Guardian as inconsistent, noting that the editorial comment in the Daily Mail said "Superficially of course, he appears to be doing the decent thing, though frankly, he didn't have much choice." In previous articles it had urged the police to investigate, and had said this would make Starmer's position untenable. The Times said national guidance and police practice of increasingly clamping down on offenders meant increased pressure on police to issue Starmer with an FPN if they found he had breached regulations. It said some of Starmer's supporters assumed that Durham police would be reluctant to give him an FPN because in May 2021 they had concluded that Dominic Cummings might have committed a minor breach of lockdown rules at Barnard Castle but that no action would be taken. A source told The Times that the Durham police would be aware of potential fallout if they appeared to be treating Starmer more leniently than the Met had treated Johnson. Policing minister Kit Malthouse said Durham police would "operate professionally to the high standards we expect of them", irrespective of any alleged pressure. Crossbench peer Ken Macdonald, Starmer's predecessor as director of public prosecutions, said from his experience the police would ignore such pressure, and if anything focus more strongly on deciding for themselves. The Observer reported on 14 May that in the week after Starmer announced he might resign, some potential replacement candidates had begun preparing for a possible leadership campaign. On 19 May The Independent compared Partygate developments to "the much flimsier 'beergate' allegations.".

Outcome

On Friday 8 July 2022, Starmer and Rayner were cleared by Durham Police, who issued a statement:

Responses to the outcome

A spokesperson for the Labour Party said: "Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have always been clear that no rules were broken in Durham. The police have completed their investigation and have agreed, saying that there is no case to answer." In a statement on Twitter, Keir Starmer said: "I've always said no rules were broken when I was in Durham. The police have completed their investigation and agreed: there is no case to answer. For me, this was always a matter of principle. Honesty and integrity matter. You will always get that from me." Angela Rayner said: "The contrast with the behaviour of this disgraced prime minister couldn't be clearer." After saying she was delighted, Mary Foy added that it was "unfortunate that the desire of some Conservative politicians has led to so much of Durham Police's time being focused on a matter that was already investigated, especially when their resources are already under significant pressure". At a press conference, Starmer drew a contrast with a "Tory party, which is tearing itself apart with a cast list of wannabe leaders, they've all propped up this Prime Minister for months and months and months knowing he's unfit for office", and called for a general election. Michael Barton, former chief constable of Durham Constabulary, said: "It had all the hallmarks of a political smear campaign, not a fair and justified criminal investigation", and had "taken experienced detectives away from proper police work." The Guardian praised "stickler for the rules" Starmer for his promise to resign if he was fined and the outcome of the investigation created an "exoneration" for Starmer.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1346448029 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.