In a relief for Labour, the long-awaited police announcement said an investigation had concluded the rally in April 2021 was reasonably necessary for work purposes and no fixed penalty notices had been issued for it. Starmer and Rayner had promised to resign if fined after calling for Boris Johnson to resign after he was fined for attending a social event in breach of the Downing Street lockdown. Both always insisted that no rules had been broken. Durham Police initially said there was no way to respond after a short video emerged of the event on April 30 last year at the office of Durham City MP Mary Foy during a campaign for the nearby seat of Hartlepool. But in May the force said it had received “significant new information” about the events and had launched a formal investigation. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Friday’s police statement said: “Following the emergence of significant new information, an investigation was launched by Durham Police into a gathering at Miners’ Hall, Redhills, Durham on 30 April 2021. This investigation has now concluded. “A significant amount of evidence and witnesses were obtained, which identified the 17 participants and their activities during this gathering. After applying the full code evidentiary test, it was concluded that there was no case to answer for a breach of the regulations, due to the application of an exception, i.e. reasonably necessary work. “Accordingly, Durham Police Service will not be issuing Fixed Penalty Notices in relation to the gathering and no further action will be taken. The investigation was thorough, detailed and proportionate.” A Labor spokesman said: “Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have always been clear that no rules were broken in Durham. The police have completed their investigation and agreed, saying there is no way to answer.’ Starmer is expected to make a statement to the media and answer questions later on Friday. In a tweet he said: “The police have completed their investigation and agreed: there is no way to answer. For me this has always been a matter of principle. Honesty and integrity matter. You’ll always get it from me.” I always said no rules were broken when I was at Durham. The police have completed their investigation and agreed: there is no way to answer. For me this has always been a matter of principle. Honesty and integrity matter. You will always get it from me. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 8, 2022 In a separate tweet, Rayner stressed her firm belief that no rules had been broken, adding: “Integrity matters in politics. The contrast to the behavior of this disgraced prime minister could not be clearer.” We have always been clear that no rules were broken at Durham. The police completed their investigation and agreed, saying there was no way to answer. Integrity matters in politics. The contrast to the behavior of this disgraced Prime Minister could not be clearer. — Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) July 8, 2022 The police decision ends the often controversial saga that became known as “beergate”, after footage showed Starmer holding a bottle of beer in his Durham office as colleagues around him ate takeaways. The decision to reopen the police investigation followed a campaign by local Tory MP Richard Holden and more than a week of back-to-back front page stories in the Daily Mail. In a statement, Foy thanked the police for their “professionalism and diligence”, adding: “However, it is unfortunate that the desire of some Tory politicians to score political points has taken so much of Durham Police’s time to focus on one issue that were already explored, especially when their resources are already under significant pressure.” Labor has always insisted it was clearly within the Covid regulations of the time for Starmer, Rayner and their colleagues to eat and drink as they discussed the primaries and local elections taking place on the same day. Election activities were specifically allowed according to the rules of the time. Johnson got away with just one fine for multiple events inside Downing Street because the Metropolitan police concluded that as prime minister he had a reasonable excuse to attend them, for example to give exit speeches.
