LONDON (Reuters) – British Labor Party leader Keir Starmer said on Monday he would step down if police decide he has broken Covid-19 rules, putting pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who refused to leave after being fined for a party that broke the lockdown measures in force at the time of the event.
After months of criticism of Johnson for his attendance at parties at the official Downing Street residence when the UK was under a strict lockdown regime, attention turned to a meeting Starmer attended last year in northeast England.
British police said on Friday they would investigate Starmer over a potential breach of lockdown rules in 2021, after receiving significant new information. Images from April 2021 show the parliamentarian drinking a bottle of beer with colleagues indoors, when such meetings were prohibited if they were not essential for work.
Starmer, and his main opposition Labor Party, have repeatedly called for Johnson and his finance minister, Rishi Sunak, to resign after both were fined in connection with a birthday celebration organized by Downing Street cabinet staff in June. of 2020.
But he had, until now, refused to say whether he would resign if it turned out he had broken the rules.
“I believe in honor, integrity, and the principle that those who make the rules must follow them… I am absolutely certain that no laws were broken, they were followed at all times. I just ate something while working late into the night,” Starmer told reporters.
“But if the police decide to notify me with a fixed sentence, of course I will do the right thing and resign,” he said.
(Reporting by William James and Elizabeth Piper)
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