After the “Partygate”, another scandal mixing non-compliance with anti-Covid rules and politicians is shaking Great Britain: the “Beergate”. British opposition leader Keir Starmer is suspected of having shared “beers and curries” with a team of his party in full confinement.
After the opening of an investigation on Friday, he pledged on Monday to resign if he receives, like Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a fine from the police. “If I have to receive a fine, I will do the right thing and I will resign,” also said in a press release the number two of the party, Angela Rayner, present at the rally.
“I am absolutely clear on the fact that no law has been violated,” hammered the leader of the Labor Party to the press. “But if the police decide to fine me, of course I will do the right thing and resign,” he said after several days of hesitation and further leaks on the “Beergate “.
The contentious grouping dates back to April 2021 and took place in Durham, in the north-east of England, when the leader of Labor was campaigning for a partial legislative vote. Indoor gatherings were prohibited, but Keir Starmer explained that he had ordered curry and beers for the team that met that evening in party premises, the only alternative, according to him, to closed restaurants.
The police had already looked into this meal of about thirty people and concluded that “no offense had been established”, but many details have since emerged in the press, in particular the tabloid Daily Mail which devoted several front pages in recent days. Its latest Sunday edition again published an internal memo about Keir Starmer’s diary on the day dinner appeared, suggesting it was prearranged.
He had criticized Boris Johnson
The announcement of the opening of an investigation on Friday spoiled the party for Labour, the day after local elections in which Boris Johnson’s Tories suffered huge setbacks, undermined by scandals and soaring prices . It also puts the leader of the opposition in a delicate position, he who has repeatedly called on the Prime Minister to resign as part of the scandal of the parties organized in Downing Street during the confinements.
VIDEO. Party in Downing Street: Boris Johnson in turmoil after the broadcast of a video
Boris Johnson was fined for a brief appearance at a surprise birthday party for his 56th birthday on June 19, 2020. According to British press reports, the Prime Minister attended at least five of the dozen other rallies on which police in London is still investigating. At the announcement of the opening of an investigation targeting Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer had evoked a “mark of shame” and called on the Prime Minister to resign.
Boris Johnson “has been found guilty of breaking the law. I think there are now over 50 fines in connection with Downing Street. And the Prime Minister has not resigned. He and others within his party want the public to think we are all the same. I am here to show that this is not the case, ”said Keir Starmer on Monday.
First British head of government in office sanctioned for breaking the law, Boris Johnson repeated his “unreserved” apologies but never mentioned the possibility of leaving his post.