David Lammy, the shadow foreign minister, insisted that Sir Keir had not broken the law and that there was no police investigation into the incident. It comes after the party was criticized for its response to the “partygate” when a photo of the Labor leader drinking a beer appeared last April in a Durham office. “Well, the law has not been broken. I do not know if you have looked at the rules as they were then,” Mr Lammy told the BBC. “That was within the rules and that is why there is no police investigation. Why are we discussing it?” At the time of the rally at the polling station of the local MP Mary Foy, the rules of social distancing included the prohibition of indoor mixing between households.
‘Rather depressing’
Durham police have asked Richard Holden, a Tory MP for Northwest Durham, to reconsider their decision that no offense was committed during the meeting. Mr Lammy on Sunday rejected the idea, saying it was “depressing” to ask questions about Sir Keir’s actions shortly before the local elections. “I think it is rather disappointing that as people head to the polls you raise an issue where there is no police investigation, where there has been no violation of the rules,” he said. Both he and the Labor leader also apologized for the party’s suggestion that Angela Rayner was not at the rally, with Sir Keir insisting it was a “real mistake” that repeated denials were made.
“No rules were violated”
Asked if the deputy leader was at the event, Sir Keir told Sky News: “Yes. We were in the office, we were working, we stopped for something to eat, there was no party, no rules were broken and this is a long time. this. “I know what is happening here, we have elections on Thursday and there are just Tory MPs trying to throw mud because they have nothing to say about the central issue of the cost of living. “We were asked twice and I did not even realize we were wrong until it came out this week. We are a busy office, we made a mistake, it is a real mistake and I take responsibility for it.” Mr Lammy added that the mistake came from the Labor leader’s office. “We apologize for this mistake. It was there,” he said.
