Sir Keir Starmer should stand for re-election if he is fined and forced to resign as Labour leader over the so-called Beergate saga, said the party’s former chief whip.
The opposition leader has vowed to quit if he receives a fine from Durham Police over an April 2021 Labour event at which beer and curry was consumed.
But senior Labour MP Nick Brown, chief whip under six party leaders, suggested that Starmer put himself forward in a leadership contest if he has to step down.
The ex-minister told BBC Politics North: “I think he’s done the right thing. He is a man of absolute principle and integrity. I don’t believe for one moment that the police will find against him. But let’s just for the sake of the argument, say they did.”
Mr Brown added: “If they did, Keir would do what he said he would do and would resign. And I would be the first person urging him to seek re-election and to lead us into the next general election.”
Durham Police announced earlier this month that it would investigate potential breach of Covid laws by Starmer and Labour staff, despite initially deciding not to take action when images of the gathering first appeared.
The Labour leader then announced that he would resign as leader if he is issued with a fixed penalty notice by the force. “I believe in honour, integrity and the principle that those who make the rules must follow them,” he said.
His deputy, Angela Rayner, who was also at the event last spring, said she too would “do the decent thing and step down” if issued with a fixed penalty notice.
But Sir Keir and Ms Rayner have continued to stress they believe no rules were broken, saying staff continued to work on local election campaign.
“I simply had something to eat whilst working late in the evening, as any politician would do days before an election,” said the Labour leader. Ms Rayner added: “Eating during a long day’s work was not against the rules.”
It comes as Boris Johnson faces a steady trickle of Tory MPs calling for his resignation following the damning report last week by top civil servant Sue Gray into lockdown parties.
Under party rules Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, will be obliged to order a confidence vote if 54 Tory MPs submit a letter calling for one.
Some 25 MPs have now publicly said they have lost confidence in the PM. Though it is not clear whether all of them have written to Sir Graham, while others may have putting in a letter without declaring it – making the exact numbers hard to know.
Senior Tory Tobias Ellwood said some colleagues are in denial about the losing the next general election and are suffering “Stockholm syndrome” when it comes to Mr Johnson remaining leader.
“We still seem to be in denial,” the defence committee chair told Sky News. “We will lose the next election on current trajectory, as reflected in recent [local] elections.”
Labour has demanded that the PM account for his “whereabouts” on his 56th birthday after reports emerged that he may have attended a second gathering that day.
According to the Sunday Times, there is possible evidence of a second gathering taking place a few hours after the Cabinet room party, with Mrs Johnson said to have been in the Downing Street flat with “several friends”.
Starmer’s party is also pushing for a vote on Mr Johnson’s decision to change the ministerial code in a move his critics say “waters down” rules on members of the Government’s front bench.
