Keir Starmer has refused to apologise for a picture of him holding a beer in a constituency office - and accused the Tories of "trying to drag everyone into the gutter".
The Labour leader insisted he "did nothing wrong" after a picture, first published in May 2021, emerged again showing him with a beer in the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election last year.
Mr Starmer was filmed holding a bottle and chatting to a woman through the window of Durham MP Mary Foy’s constituency office.
He told LBC: "I think it’s very straightforward. It was a very busy time; it was three or four days before the local elections. We were working in the office, and a takeaway turned up and we stopped and we ate it.
"Honestly, you know, two parties the night before Prince Philip ’s funeral with suitcases. We didn’t break any rules, we were working in the office.
"I understand what’s going on here which is exactly what happened with Owen Paterson. There comes a time when the Tories try to take everyone into the gutter with them. We did nothing wrong."
Labour has previously insisted no rules were broken in the picture, which emerged last Spring but has featured again in media interviews because the Daily Mail put it on its front page two days in a row.
At the time of the photo England was in Step 2 of its lockdown roadmap - which banned indoor socialising with people not in your support bubble.
Nadhim Zahawi said he hoped the Labour leader "finds (it) within himself to apologise" for the image as the Tories tried to shift focus away from their own rule-breaking parties.
The Education Secretary told BBC Breakfast: "I think people expect, you know, very high standards from their leaders, and I think that's only right."
