Sir Keir Starmer should “consider his position” as Labour leader if he is fined as part of a police probe into a takeaway meal with colleagues, said former shadow minister Diane Abbott.
Durham Constabulary is investigating claims an event attended by Starmer with other senior party figures and activists while campaigning last year might have broken local Covid regulations.
“I think if he actually gets a fixed-penalty notice he really has to consider his position,” Ms Abbott, a left-wing critic of his leadership, told LBC.
The former shadow home secretary, who served under Jeremy Corbyn, added: “I don’t think he will, I think this is a lot of hype built up by the Tory press, but if he were to get a fixed penalty notice he would have to consider his position.”
It follows Mr Corbyn’s intervention in the row. The former Labour leader, who now sits as an independent MP, said on Friday that the police decision to re-examine the case was a “very serious development”.
However, Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting told BBC Breakfast on Saturday that he would not “entertain” the prospect of Sir Keir resigning over alleged lockdown rule-breaking in Durham last April.
“I’m not even going to entertain the prospect of that because I have absolute faith and confidence that Keir Starmer did the right thing all the way along,” said the shadow health secretary.
Mr Streeting said the contrast between Sir Keir and Boris Johnson will be “even sharper” after Durham Police team finish its investigation into the circumstances around the campaign event.
Durham Police said they had U-turned on an earlier decision on the case that no offence had been committed after receiving “significant new information”.
Police have not revealed what additional details sparked the probe but The Times reported a “key factor” was confirmation deputy leader Angela Rayner attended the evening. Labour had previously denied she had been present.
The so-called “beergate” probe will take up to six weeks and will see those suspected of having breached lockdown rules sent questionnaires, according to reports.
Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, told reporters on Friday in London – having returned from a victory lap around the country following Labour local elections successes – he did not believe the event had breached the rules.
Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi questioned why Sir Keir was not resigning after the Labour leader had called for Mr Johnson to quit as PM while under investigation over the No 10 Partygate row.
Mr Zahawi told Times Radio: “The public will be uncomfortable with the hypocrisy. I think he’s used one in three of his PMQs to talk about parties … He has tweeted himself saying that if you’re under investigation, a criminal investigation, then you should resign.”
Labour’s Sadiq Khan had raised eyebrows last week when he said it was a “fair point” to draw comparisons between Johnson’s birthday party and Starmer’s takeaway curry gathering.
But the London mayor defended the party leader on Saturday, saying: “Keir is quite clear. No rules were broken. He was working incredibly hard all day, had supper in the evening. A million miles away from what Boris Johnson was found to have done.”
Shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens also defended Starmer. Asked whether Sir Keir could resign, she told Times Radio a fine was “extremely unlikely”.
Ms Stevens added: “I think that this is a non-story, a kind of smear that’s been going on to time with the local elections to try and hold up a Tory party that is so badly damaged by the behaviour of the prime minister.”
Following allegations of lockdown breaches by Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former adviser at the time, Durham Constabulary said it had a policy against issuing Covid fines retrospectively.
In May 2020, an investigation concluded that Mr Cummings might have committed a “minor breach” of the law by driving to Barnard Castle, but that issuing a fixed penalty notice months later “would amount to treating Mr Cummings differently from other members of the public”.
