Starmer is caught in a web of his own words

I’ve so far found it hard to get outraged about Keir Starmer’s curry with staffers after a campaigning event in April last year. For the boss to buy in a curry for his local activists during the visit is a decent and human thing to do. I’d not condemn anyone for it. But this is politically tricky for Starmer for three reasons:

1. Starmer was not a voice of moderation on lockdown. He was always calling for an even tougher regime than that which the Tories needlessly imposed. As Opposition leader, I’d say, he had not only the option but the duty to oppose a cruel and draconian policy that gratuitously criminalised harmless, everyday acts.
2. Starmer did not change his mind on lockdown. As he sat down for that curry, he should have thought: should I really have voted for this to be illegal? Or at very least put decent people in a bizarre situation where they need to invent a story about going back to work after 10pm, in order to dodge a potential police investigation? As Opposition leader, Starmer could and should have spoken out for the many who thought that it was time to leave people to their own judgement and decriminalise lockdown rules.