A Tory MP who wants police to probe Keir Starmer’s group work pizza proudly had a group work curry in the same week.
Richard Holden has urged Durham Police to reopen a probe into the Labour leader’s conduct during lockdown last year.
Sir Keir was videoed in an MP’s constituency office in Durham on April 30, drinking from a bottle of beer during a by-election campaign.
While insisting it has not reopened its investigation, Durham Police told Mr Holden it will “consider” his plea and respond in due course.
But a statement on the North West Durham MP’s own Facebook page from May 1 last year casts his campaign in an awkward light.
Posting about a visit to Gurkhas in Kent the week before, he said: “It was particularly great to meet the young Gurkha soldiers and to chat with them properly over lunch in their mess and to find out more about them and their families back in Nepal.”
Mr Holden defended his trip, which broke no rules, adding he had a curry and an orange squash.
Labour insist their party leader’s behaviour broke no rules either.
A spokeswoman said: “ Keir Starmer was in the workplace, meeting a local MP in her constituency office.
“They paused for food as the meeting was during the evening. No rules were broken.”
Durham Police are under mounting pressure from Tory MPs to reopen their investigation after Labour slammed Boris Johnson over Partygate.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said Sir Keir was a “hypocrite” who should be “subjected to the same standard” as the PM.
But barrister Adam Wagner, who has analysed Covid laws, tweeted: “There is a difference in law between a pre-arranged social event (birthday party) and a meal whilst campaigning when there is nowhere else to get food.
“There is no prospect of showing a pre-arranged birthday party is reasonably necessary for work - it is a purely social event.”
Mr Holden told Durham Police he had discovered a “concerning new piece of evidence” about the April 30 event last year.
He said an online invitation showed the City of Durham Labour Party invited people to a “Quiz and Social in-person event” on the same night, “at the location where Keir Starmer was filmed socialising and drinking beer”.
He added the local MP, Mary Kelly Foy, “encouraged attendees to have a ‘greasy night’, which Urban Dictionary defines as an evening which involves ‘drinking too much’.”
A Labour source hit back, insisting the quiz was on Zoom with members in their living rooms, wasn’t in the building where Sir Keir was, and he didn’t take part.
Durham Police issued a statement today saying it had received "a number of further communications", which it will respond to in due course, but that it was not currently investigating the matter.
In February, the force said no further action would be taken against Keir Starmer over the incident.
The statement said: "Earlier this year, Durham Constabulary undertook a review of video footage recorded in Durham on April 30, 2021.
"We stated that we did not believe an offence has been established in relation to the legislation and guidance in place at the time the footage was taken and would therefore take no further action in relation to the matter.
"We have since received a number of further communications relating to this matter and will now consider the contents of those communications and respond in due course.
"For clarity, Durham Constabulary is not currently investigating this incident."
Richard Holden told the Mirror: “Alongside MPs from all parties, I was delighted to attend the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme briefing with the Gurkhas in Folkestone.
“All MPs had lunch of a curry dish and orange squash with our brave young recruits to learn about their lives back home to give us a better understanding of why they choose to serve in Britain’s armed forces.”
After the Mirror approached Mr Holden for comment, he tweeted: "Getting desperate now from Sir Smear Starmer. The Daily Mirror have contacted me with what appears to be a hand-out attack from Labour on me & other MPs from all parties who met The Gurkhas on an Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme visit in April ‘21.
"I understand Sir Smear Starmer’s supporters are trying to suggest that MPs meeting our brave Gurkha recruits & talking to them about why they join British Army is the same as having beers & takeout with mates during lockdown but it just isn’t is it Keir Starmer?"
