UK Labour leader accused of hypocrisy over event

Dominic Raab has accused Sir Keir Starmer of “hypocrisy” after police launched an investigation into whether he breached Covid rules in 2021.

The deputy PM stopped short of calling for the Labour leader to quit over what he called “rank double standards”.

But he said Sir Keir had “a bunch of questions to answer” about the event.

Labour’s Lisa Nandy said the gathering at a Labour MP’s office was a work event and it was “absurd” to compare it to Boris Johnson’s “serial partying”.

When the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into Covid rule-breaking in No 10 in January, Sir Keir said the PM should quit, but the Labour leader has now ruled out resigning himself.

Asked if Sir Keir should resign, Ms Nandy told the BBC’s Sunday Morning show the two situations were “not the same”.

“Downing Street was under investigation for 12 separate gatherings which we now know included karaokes, celebrations, leaving drinks, garden parties, pub quizzes and suitcases of wine,” added the shadow levelling up secretary.

She argued that to compare that with “a work meeting where people stopped to eat” was “pretty desperate” and accused the Conservatives and “their cheerleaders in the media” of “flinging mud”.

And she insisted that as a former director of public prosecutions – in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service – Sir Keir was “not the sort of man to tear up the rulebook”. In a Sky News interview, she described her leader as “Mr Rules”.

But Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Mr Raab said the Labour leader was guilty of “complete hypocrisy” and had “a bunch of questions to answer” about the Durham event.

He avoided saying whether he thought the Labour leader should resign, saying the government was focused on issues that mattered more to voters, such as the cost of living.

Labour has cancelled an event for Monday in which Sir Keir was due to give a speech and take questions from journalists ahead of Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech.

The Institute for Government think tank, which was hosting the event, was not given any specific reasons for why Labour had cancelled it.

The Labour Party has declined to comment.  (BBC)