It took Keir Starmer three days to promise to resign if he was fined for breaking lockdown rules, after Durham police announced its investigation – but those who know him say it was never in doubt that he would do so.
Some may regard him as a little dull, but Starmer is a stickler for the rules. His pledge to resign was a political gamble but it also laid down a genuine dividing line between the former director of public prosecutions and the chaotic, devil-may-care Boris Johnson.
