Susanna Reid turned the heat on Sir Keir Starmer as the Labour leader comes under increasing pressure to give answers on accusations of breaking Covid rules in Durham last year.
Earlier this year Starmer said a photograph of him drinking with a number of party staff in a constituency office while visiting the city last year was “no breach of the rules” and there was “no comparison” with the Prime Minister, who has now been fined for his involvement in an illegal gathering that took place in Downing Street, whilst the country was still subject to strict lockdown rules.
And, a day after the PM sat opposite Susanna to face a grilling, with her kicking things off b y asking if he was honest before pressing for answers on the impact of the rising cost of living and how the Government intends to help people, it was Starmer's turn to appear on Good Morning Britain.
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The leader of the opposition joined both Susanna and ITV co-host Richard Madeley in the studio and it didn't take long for the line of questioning to turn to what has been dubbed 'Beergate.' After Richard pushed for answers and Starmer insisted he and colleagues had been working, Susanna commented: "People understand the work thing, but what about the social thing? You were allowed to work, but you couldn't socialise, unless that was reasonable for work. So are you trying to say that what you did was reasonable for work purposes?"
Starmer replied: "We were there working, we were doing pieces to camera," but Susanna fired back: "Why does doing pieces to camera make it any different? Why were you in the office with takeaway food and beer late at night with 30 people? You've already said your wife couldn't go into her father's flat to clean; so how come so many of you were in a room drinking beer and eating food?
Starmer told her: "We’re on the road. At the end of the day we’re in the office preparing. Now that evening, from memory we were doing an online event for member, I was doing pieces to camera, we were clearing documents.
"At some point, this was in the evening, everybody’s hungry and a takeaway was ordered. It was then delivered to the kitchen of the offices… In Durham, all restaurants and pubs were closed, so takeaways really were the only way you could eat. So this was brought in and at various points people went through to the kitchen and had something to eat, and got on with their work.”
Rounding things off, Susanna quizzed the Labour leader on if the police had been in touch with him, to which he replied: "“No, I think they put out a statement last week saying they’re not reinvestigating and they haven’t spoken to me.”
