London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner receive questionnaires from Durham police

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner receive questionnaires from Durham police

Labour confirms force has been in touch with leader and deputy as part of lockdown gathering investigation
Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have been sent questionnaires by Durham police investigating whether they broke lockdown laws with a gathering for beer and curry on the campaign trail last year.

The Labour leader, who has promised to resign if fined for breaching the law, has denied any wrongdoing, saying he and his team were working on the night in question when they stopped for something to eat.

A Labour spokesperson confirmed that Starmer and Rayner had received questionnaires as part of the inquiry. At the time, people were not allowed to socialise indoors except with their own household or support bubble, but there were exceptions for meetings necessary for work.

The party claims it can prove the curry and beers shared between his team came as part of a long working day preparing for the Hartlepool byelection, meaning it was permitted under Covid rules.

But Durham constabulary opened an investigation after a campaign from rightwing newspapers and calls from Tory MPs for them to look into the incident at Durham Miners Hall on 30 April 2021.

With Boris Johnson refusing to resign after being fined by the Met police, Starmer has taken a different course by pledging to step down if the Durham force find wrongdoing. Starmer said this month he was determined to prove he had “different principles to the prime minister”, who has already been given a fixed-penalty notice for breaching lockdown rules in Downing Street.

He said he was confident he had not broken the rules but would resign if fined, saying: “The British public deserve politicians who think the rules apply to them.”

Detectives are considering interviewing the Labour leader face to face and the uncertainty around Starmer’s continued leadership of the party will continue for weeks, the Guardian understands.

As well as the Labour leader and his deputy, questionnaires have also been sent to other Labour activists police believe were at the gathering in the Durham constituency office.

The questionnaires are legal documents. After Starmer and Rayner complete and return them to police, officers will then compare their responses with other information from other sources.

Police will assess the veracity of their responses, and whether the threshold for a fine is met for Starmer or Rayner.

The investigation is not expected to be completed until the end of June or beginning of July.

Starmer is said to be confident he will not be fined because of the evidence that the takeaway was part of his working day. There is also the possibility that Starmer and Rayner could be criticised by the police but not fined – an approach the Durham force took after an inquiry into alleged lockdown breaches by Dominic Cummings, who was then the prime minister’s senior aide.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
×