What Durham police's ‘beergate’ investigation means for Starmer

It’s Boris Johnson’s lucky day. Keir Starmer had hoped to spend Friday talking up Labour’s results in the local election – with a particular focus on the party’s successes over the London Tories in Wandsworth, Barnet and Westminster. Instead, the Labour leader and his team will spend the afternoon talking about ‘beergate’ after the Telegraph broke the news that Durham Police will investigate the alleged lockdown breach.

This all relates to an event in April last year when Starmer was photographed drinking beer with colleagues in Durham at a ‘work event’ involving a takeaway curry. When evidence of the event first emerged earlier this year, it gained little traction. But ever since Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were fined for attending an event with birthday cake in between work meetings, the Tories have been calling for the case to be re-examined (after police found there had been no wrongdoing earlier this year). These efforts have been led by Richard Holden, the MP for North West Durham and a former political adviser.