1 month ago. London, UK

After Boris Johnson, UK opposition leader Keir Starmer under police investigation for breaking lockdown rule

Keir Starmer is the leader of the opposition Labour Party in the UK parliament
He is under investigation for an alleged gathering in Durham during the lockdown in 2021
Starmer was spotted drinking beer and eating a takeaway meal inside a campaign office with party colleagues

Keir Starmer, leader of the UK's opposition Labour Party, is under investigation for an alleged gathering in Durham in 2021 which reportedly breached lockdown rules, weeks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fined for breaking the rules.

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"We can confirm that an investigation into potential breaches of Covid-19 regulations relating to this gathering is now being conducted," Durham Police said in a statement Friday.

The gathering took place in April last year, with a video later emerging of Starmer drinking beer and eating a takeaway meal inside a campaign office with party colleagues.

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Starmer is a lawyer and former chief prosecutor for England and Wales. He insisted that the gathering did not break rules against indoor gatherings since he was working.

"We're obviously happy to answer any questions there are and we remain clear that no rules were broken,” said a Labour Party spokesperson.

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The police force looked into the event at the time, but concluded that "no offence had been established".

But it said Friday that "following the receipt of significant new information over recent days..., we can confirm that an investigation into potential breaches of Covid-19 regulations relating to this gathering is now being conducted".

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The announcement came a day after local elections, in which Johnson's party is likely to lose for his own rule-breaking.

The prime minister and his finance minister Rishi Sunak both have been fined for attending a gathering in Johnson's office to celebrate his birthday in 2020.

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London police are still investigating other potential breaches of the law by Johnson, who had previously denied breaking the rules he set for everyone else. When Johnson was under police investigation, Starmer called it a "mark of shame" and demanded the prime minister resign.

"Even now he is hiding behind a police investigation into criminality into his home and his office," Starmer told MPs in January.

"He gleefully treats what should be a mark of shame as a welcome shield, but the British people are not fools, they never believed a word of it, they think the PM should do the decent thing and resign.

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"Of course he won't because he is a man without shame and just as he has done throughout his life, he has damaged everyone and everything around him along the way," said the Labour leader.

#covid19 #UK #RishiSunak #Johnson #Politics #Europe

After Boris Johnson, UK opposition leader Keir Starmer under police investigation for breaking lockdown rule

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