Partygate

Whether you're a sensible blue or a raving red loony it's important that you DO vote today and in the future...

 

It's not a question of what they were talking about. The only relevant issue is whether it was a genuine meal break between working sessions or not.

That was my mistake. I knew it was a meal break but hadn't realised it wasn't lunchtime.
The time of day is irrelevant. The only relevant issue is whether it was a bona fide meal break. Pausing work for a curry & beer is a work event. Stopping work for a prearranged birthday celebration is a social gathering. It's not hard to understand the difference.

Was it? There was a LP quiz and social in Durham that night. But is that what Starmer was at? He says he was at a campaign meeting where he continued working after the meal break. So far, no one has demonstrated anything to the contrary.

Yes, Sunak believed he was turning up for a work meeting. When he got there and found it was a birthday social event he should have left straight away, knowing that it was breaking rules. But he didn't. He stayed. Which is why he got fined.

Nope. Going to a quiz and social wouldn't have been fine. It would have been against the rules. But Starmer says he wasn't at a quiz and social - he was at a work meeting.

Nope. No intrinsic difference between beer and wine. Drinking a small quantity of either as an accompaniment to a meal on a bona fide work break is fine. Sitting in the sunshine in a garden, next to your wife, surrounded by several bottles of wine and people who are clearly neither eating a meal nor working, is a social drinks event. Again it's really not difficult to make the distinction.

If it was a lie then it is both wrong and stupid. Starmer says it was an honest mistake. I believe Starmer because I think he is a generally honourable and truthful person. But also because I think he is a) not someone who would deliberately break Covid rules and b) intelligent enough to know that he would be unlikely to get away with it if he did.

 

Wasnt it a tory council who tore down our victorian arcades and buildings and replaced them with the concrete monstrosities? Wasnt it the tory council who failed to replace our old industries with new ones to keep the city vibrant? Just like leeds managed to do.

Ever since the torys tore bradford a new hole its been decline upon decline.

These northern torys are simply laughable. Forgetting what the tory governments did to the north.

 

As a Civil Servant of many years if I was caught drinking alcohol at work (ie on government/Crown property) and during my contracted working hours whether on a break or not I would at least be up for gross misconduct and at worst instantly dismissed.
It boils my blood to hear about the drinking culture amongst the elite of politics in and around Westminster. Starmer has been caught drinking alcohol and that strongly suggests that he was not working at the time. IF he was still working but on a break he needs to be disciplined and then fined by the Police. But we know that won't happen. And people wonder why less and less people are voting these days.

 

Who you voting for Tony?

 

No he doesn't. There's nothing in law that prohibits drinking with a meal during a work break.

I worked in the public sector for 37 years - civil service and local government. For over twenty of those it was commonplace to go for a lunchtime pint in a pub, and also to hold birthday celebrations, leaving do's and team bonding sessions with alcohol on work premises. That changed during the 90s when it became against work rules to drink at lunchtime in pubs, or at any time on work premises. But those were just the rules of my employers, not the law of the land. Many people still go for a lunchtime drink quite legally.
Unless the Labour Party has specific rules prohibiting alcohol during working time or meal breaks then the simple act of having a beer with a meal during a work break broke no rules whatsoever. There was nothing in the Covid rules about alcohol, just about social gatherings.

 

These are the Civil Service rules on drinking and exclusively apply to Civil Servants-so the law of the land is irrelevant.
Don't disagree about lunchtime drinking off government premises but as you say it has been prohibited since the 90's-including staff parties IN offices I might add after a young lad died in Manchester after falling out of a 3rd floor window at one xmas party.

Was Starmer on Government property at the time he drank alcohol or in the local pub? That's the subtle difference here.

 

Hope she enjoyed the conference. Cost almost £2m

 

She seemed to enjoy it. To me it's just a jolly outing for the big wigs to show how important they think they are. I do understand the importance of the Unions though.

 

i agree with you on both. Seems mad spending some much every year and more on regional conferences whilst at same time putting up subs to some of the lowest paid workers, retail staff, in the country.

 

Neither. He was at the Durham Miners' Hall. It'll be owned by a trade union I expect. Also the office of the local MP, I think. So no rules broken.

 

I honestly don't know why she does it. Doesn't get anything for it and ends up dealing with complete doughnuts on both sides of the fence dealing with with dopey members of staff and managers who have no idea how to treat members of staff.

 

Police investigation now on Starmer and Durhamgate.

 

Yup. Looks like we'll find out one way or the other if any rules were broken
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/06/keir-starmer-faces-police-investigation-over-lockdown-breach-claims-beer?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

 

Complete waste of time and resources......

 

For once, I agree with you.

 

No. Because this is a one off incident that is unlikely to produce anything much. As opposed to the prolonged, systematic, entitled distain for the rules that was going on in and around No 10.

If this turns out to be an actionable breach of the law I'll put my hand up and admit I was wrong. But I think it's going to be a waste of time that will simply confirm that they were working on producing a party briefing and stopped for a meal break.