Sir Keir Starmer: Police have not been in touch over Durham Covid beer

Sir Keir Starmer has said the police have not contacted him again about accusations he broke lockdown rules by drinking a beer in an MP's office.

The Labour leader was pictured with a bottle through a window in Durham on 30 April 2021, but was cleared by the local force of breaking any laws.

However, Tory MPs have called for the event to be reinvestigated.

Sir Keir declined to answer on Tuesday's BBC Radio 4 Today programme if he had spoken to police again.

But asked by reporters on Wednesday, he said: "No, I have not had contact from Durham Police, and I think people are just about fed up with the mudslinging going on."

He accused the Conservatives of focusing on the event as they had "no answer to the central question, which is the cost of living crisis".

The row comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending a birthday party for the PM in Downing Street as part of an investigation into 12 gatherings across government buildings during the pandemic.

Scotland Yard have said at least 50 fines have been issued as a result of their inquiry, but that they will not be announcing any further fixed penalty notices in the run-up to the local election.

Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told BBC Breakfast there was "a world of difference" between the two incidents, saying Sir Keir had "no case to answer".

A Durham Police spokesman said: "We have received a number of recent communications on this subject, which we are considering and will respond in due course."

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The picture of the Labour leader was taken in the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election in the office of City of Durham MP Mary Foy - inside Durham Miners' Hall.

The party has always insisted no rules were broken and, in February, Durham Police said they did not believe an offence had been committed.

But local Tory MP Richard Holden wrote to the force last week asking them to reconsider, saying lockdown rules "should be applied equally" between Sir Keir and the prime minister.

Asked about the detail of the event on ITV's Good Morning Britain programme, the Labour leader said he and his team were "in the office preparing" for the by-election and carrying out an online event for members.

'Restaurants were closed'

"At some point, this was in the evening, everybody's hungry and then that takeaway was ordered. It was then delivered into the kitchen," he said.

"Restaurants and pubs were closed, so takeaways were really the only way you could eat.

"So this was brought in and at various points people went through the kitchen, got a plate, had some food to eat and got on with their work."

Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday, he added: "We were working, we stopped, we ate, no breech of the rules, no party.

"This relentless focus on mudslinging rather than the issue at hand by the Conservatives means that they have got no answers on the real question… how are you going to help me with my bills?"

"[The government is] out of touch, out of ideas and out of excuses."

What were lockdown rules on 30 April 2021?

On 30 April, England was in the "Step 2" rules, which had been introduced on 12 April.

Gathering indoors with people from outside your household or support bubble was against the law.

There was an exemption for "work purposes", although working from home was recommended in the guidance, but the rules did not mention socialising at work.

The question for police would have been whether Labour officials eating and drinking together would have been "reasonably necessary for work" and whether drinking beer makes a difference to that.

Sir Keir Starmer told LBC Radio that as pubs and restaurants were closed and his hotel was not serving food, "if you didn't get a takeaway then our team wasn't eating that evening".

Bars, pubs and restaurants were allowed to open outdoors for groups of six people or two households, but indoor service was not allowed.

Durham Police reviewed the video in February this year and said it did not believe an offence had been committed.

The rules on indoor gatherings were the same in June 2020, when Boris Johnson attended a gathering for his birthday, for which he was fined. Gatherings of two or more people indoors were banned by law unless they were reasonably necessary for work purposes.