The ‘Beergate’ investigation into Keir Starmer cost taxpayers £101,000 - and used nine major crime detectives.
Durham Police held a two-month probe into whether Labour ’s leader broke lockdown rules - opened after a Tory MP and newspapers repeatedly urged it to do so.
The price tag is much smaller than £460,000 the Met Police spent investigating lockdown breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall.
But unlike the Scotland Yard probe, which dished out 126 fines including one to Boris Johnson, Durham Police did not issue a single fine.
The force said there was “no case to answer” for the beer and meal Labour’s leader shared with party activists.
Indoor meet-ups were banned during the third lockdown in April 2021 - but Durham Police ruled Keir Starmer's case was “reasonably necessary work”.
In a Freedom of Information response, first obtained by the NationalWorld website, the force said a detective superintendent, a detective inspector, a detective sergeant, and six detective constables conducted the investigation alongside two members of police staff.
All were from the force’s major crime team. In total it used around 3,200 hours of police time.
Keir Starmer - who had vowed to resign if police found he breached the rules - said after the probe: “I really hated it, if I’m honest.”
The party leader, who insisted he had taken a quick break from work while out on the campaign trail, added: “It really meant a lot to me. It was a burden that I was carrying.
“I’m trying not to show it of course. But it was, you know, it was there every day.
“And of course, I was massively pleased when the decision came through, completely exonerated me.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner was also investigated and also did not receive a fine.
Grainy footage emerged last year of Keir Starmer enjoying a beer in a constituency office in Durham on 30 April 2021 after a day of campaigning ahead of local elections and the Hartlepool by-election.
The force initially said it would not fully investigate ‘Beergate’ but U-turned in May amid a campaign from Tory MPs and some newspapers.
Conservative MP Richard Holden wrote to Durham Police urging the force to change its mind and investigate. After this, the force told him it would fully investigate “in light of new and emerging information”.
The force did not say what that information was.
Durham Police today declined to add to its statement from July closing the probe, which said it had been “thorough, detailed and proportionate”.
