Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been cleared of an allegation he broke lockdown rules after he was filmed drinking a beer in an office.
Sir Keir was in the City of Durham MP’s office, working in the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election in April 2021.
He has previously insisted he did nothing wrong, despite comparisons by his opponents to the partygate allegations at 10 Downing Street.
Durham police have now confirmed they did not believe any offence was committed.
We do not believe an offence has been established in relation to the legislation and guidance in place at that time and will therefore take no further action in relation to this matter.
A spokesman for the force said: “Durham Constabulary has reviewed video footage recorded in Durham on April 30 2021.
“We do not believe an offence has been established in relation to the legislation and guidance in place at that time and will therefore take no further action in relation to this matter.”
Sir Keir has previously told LBC Radio: “The restrictions allowed people to work when they needed to, we were running an election campaign, we were in a constituency office.”
He said no restaurants or pubs were open and the hotel he and colleagues were staying in did not serve food, so “if you didn’t get a takeaway then our team wasn’t eating that evening”.
Asked if he was prepared to apologise, Sir Keir said: “We didn’t break any rules, we were working in the office and we stopped for a takeaway.”
He added: “We did nothing wrong.”
