Recent from talks
Beergate
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Beergate
Beergate was a British political controversy concerning allegations that an event in Durham on 30 April 2021, attended by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, could have been in breach of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Labour and Starmer said, at the time and since, that the event complied with the rules for work gatherings, with a pause for food. The police, after investigating, cleared the Labour attendees, including Starmer and Rayner.
At the Durham event, shortly before the Hartlepool by-election and local elections, a Labour Party campaign team of seventeen people, including Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner, used the office of MP Mary Foy. Around 10 pm, a student Ivo Delingpole, took a short video through the office window of the event. Next day, The Sun published a brief story including Labour's statement that this was a permissible work event, and pictures from the video showing Starmer with a beer while others ate a takeaway. The story then got little attention.
While responding to Partygate allegations in December 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the Durham event. In January 2022, he apologised for attending a "socially distanced drinks" gathering, saying he had believed it was a work event. Starmer said Johnson had breached the Ministerial Code by misleading Parliament, and asked him to resign. Conservatives featured in The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail called Starmer a hypocrite, alleging that he had similarly breached lockdown rules. On 7 February 2022, Durham Constabulary cleared Starmer over the allegation. They had reviewed the video and did not believe an offence had been established, so would take no further action.
On 12 April 2022, after Johnson was given a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for breaching COVID-19 regulations, Starmer again said Johnson should resign. Press and Conservatives made allegations about the Durham event and demanded a detailed investigation, on 6 May Durham Constabulary said they had begun investigating as new evidence had emerged. On 9 May, Starmer and Rayner said they were confident they had not broken any rules, but would resign if issued with FPNs, to demonstrate what they said were different principles to Johnson who remained in office. On 8 July 2022, Durham Constabulary announced that all attendees, including Rayner and Starmer, had been cleared of any wrongdoing. By then, the government was in crisis, and on 7 July Johnson had announced his resignation.
On 30 April 2021, six days before the 6 May 2021 Hartlepool by-election and local elections, Keir Starmer joined campaigning in Hull, then travelled to Durham, where he was to arrive at his hotel at 6:30 pm. He walked from there to join a Labour Party campaign team in local MP Mary Foy's office premises which form part of the Durham Miners' Hall. His deputy Angela Rayner, who had been campaigning in Hartlepool, arrived shortly before 7 pm, and with their aides they took part in an online event for members, gave approval to press releases, and filmed campaign videos. Foy joined them, with about four members of her team. In total there were 17 participants at the gathering.
A Labour memo or operational note said takeaway food was to be ordered from a nearby curry house for a meal break, scheduled to be between 8:40 pm and 10 pm, and after this noted that Starmer would walk to his hotel, "End of visit". Starmer said takeaways were "brought in and at various points people went through to the kitchen, got a plate and had something to eat", then "got on with their work".
Starmer said he continued work after the meal, and Labour showed The Guardian documentation to support this. A time-stamped video showed Starmer being filmed to 9:07 pm, then WhatsApp group exchanges discussed editing the video as a International Workers' Day message. An aide who had been with Starmer sent the final edit at 1:56 am, possibly after returning to their hotel. A source said Starmer was given overnight briefing papers to prepare himself for a visit the next day to Liberty Steel in Hartlepool. During the evening, edits were made between 10:41 and 11:19 pm to a Google document script for filming there.
By that date, UK COVID-19 pandemic levels had fallen, and the lockdown regulations, first introduced in March 2020, had been eased to "step two" rules. Indoor socialising was still banned, with exceptions for events "reasonably necessary" for work purposes, and where "the gathering is reasonably necessary for the purposes of campaigning in an election". The government had also issued guidance, which for election campaigning said "You should not meet with other campaigners indoors." Restaurants were only permitted to serve food outdoors for groups of up to six people or up to two households, and indoor service was not allowed. Starmer said this was part of the reason for getting a takeaway delivered.
Hub AI
Beergate AI simulator
(@Beergate_simulator)
Beergate
Beergate was a British political controversy concerning allegations that an event in Durham on 30 April 2021, attended by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, could have been in breach of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Labour and Starmer said, at the time and since, that the event complied with the rules for work gatherings, with a pause for food. The police, after investigating, cleared the Labour attendees, including Starmer and Rayner.
At the Durham event, shortly before the Hartlepool by-election and local elections, a Labour Party campaign team of seventeen people, including Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner, used the office of MP Mary Foy. Around 10 pm, a student Ivo Delingpole, took a short video through the office window of the event. Next day, The Sun published a brief story including Labour's statement that this was a permissible work event, and pictures from the video showing Starmer with a beer while others ate a takeaway. The story then got little attention.
While responding to Partygate allegations in December 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the Durham event. In January 2022, he apologised for attending a "socially distanced drinks" gathering, saying he had believed it was a work event. Starmer said Johnson had breached the Ministerial Code by misleading Parliament, and asked him to resign. Conservatives featured in The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail called Starmer a hypocrite, alleging that he had similarly breached lockdown rules. On 7 February 2022, Durham Constabulary cleared Starmer over the allegation. They had reviewed the video and did not believe an offence had been established, so would take no further action.
On 12 April 2022, after Johnson was given a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for breaching COVID-19 regulations, Starmer again said Johnson should resign. Press and Conservatives made allegations about the Durham event and demanded a detailed investigation, on 6 May Durham Constabulary said they had begun investigating as new evidence had emerged. On 9 May, Starmer and Rayner said they were confident they had not broken any rules, but would resign if issued with FPNs, to demonstrate what they said were different principles to Johnson who remained in office. On 8 July 2022, Durham Constabulary announced that all attendees, including Rayner and Starmer, had been cleared of any wrongdoing. By then, the government was in crisis, and on 7 July Johnson had announced his resignation.
On 30 April 2021, six days before the 6 May 2021 Hartlepool by-election and local elections, Keir Starmer joined campaigning in Hull, then travelled to Durham, where he was to arrive at his hotel at 6:30 pm. He walked from there to join a Labour Party campaign team in local MP Mary Foy's office premises which form part of the Durham Miners' Hall. His deputy Angela Rayner, who had been campaigning in Hartlepool, arrived shortly before 7 pm, and with their aides they took part in an online event for members, gave approval to press releases, and filmed campaign videos. Foy joined them, with about four members of her team. In total there were 17 participants at the gathering.
A Labour memo or operational note said takeaway food was to be ordered from a nearby curry house for a meal break, scheduled to be between 8:40 pm and 10 pm, and after this noted that Starmer would walk to his hotel, "End of visit". Starmer said takeaways were "brought in and at various points people went through to the kitchen, got a plate and had something to eat", then "got on with their work".
Starmer said he continued work after the meal, and Labour showed The Guardian documentation to support this. A time-stamped video showed Starmer being filmed to 9:07 pm, then WhatsApp group exchanges discussed editing the video as a International Workers' Day message. An aide who had been with Starmer sent the final edit at 1:56 am, possibly after returning to their hotel. A source said Starmer was given overnight briefing papers to prepare himself for a visit the next day to Liberty Steel in Hartlepool. During the evening, edits were made between 10:41 and 11:19 pm to a Google document script for filming there.
By that date, UK COVID-19 pandemic levels had fallen, and the lockdown regulations, first introduced in March 2020, had been eased to "step two" rules. Indoor socialising was still banned, with exceptions for events "reasonably necessary" for work purposes, and where "the gathering is reasonably necessary for the purposes of campaigning in an election". The government had also issued guidance, which for election campaigning said "You should not meet with other campaigners indoors." Restaurants were only permitted to serve food outdoors for groups of up to six people or up to two households, and indoor service was not allowed. Starmer said this was part of the reason for getting a takeaway delivered.
Recent media