Is Starmer seriously going to resign???

[Swayingpalmtrees]

I have been waiting for a thread to come up about this, but I can't see one to date. I can't believe Keir Starmer has now said he will resign (and Angela Rayner as well) Potentially leaving the Labour party with no leader at all!

Looking at the 'evidence' that is well known and has been published, it appears the Indian takeaway was pre ordered (due to its size) and pre planned according to the staff at the Indian and the leaked memo, it did include quite a number of people and bottles of beer etc and drinking. It was late into the night, so not work related, and no one is suggesting anyone continued to work afterwards as it was so late. I don't see how this is any different to the No10 arrangements! So how on earth will they avoid a fine??

Sir Keir's speech was so wobbly I actually thought he was resigning there and then, and although I appreciate the sentiments of integrity and honour, where on earth does that leave the LP with under two years to the election or less?

Who would replace him? Do we have any thoughts on a plan of any kind?

I am kind of aghast, we are in the middle of a European war, on the cusp of potentially WW3, I am not sure this is a responsible action given the seriousness of our predicament with Russia whom are threatening us on a weekly basis with nuclear war. At the very very least, we need a firm hand on the tiller, so to speak, we do not have time to be squabbling over beer and cheese.
AIBU?

There is potential for a lot more fines yet. What an exaggeration.

In a nutshell 🤷‍♀️

Stating so unequivocally that Joy Allen is covering up for Keir Starmer in this could (and should) land you in some legal hot water, OP.

Why are they "swilling"? Why does drinking beer take longer than any other liquid?

Go and look them up. You've been told where they are.

The only thing that stops daytime drinking in the three industries I work across is budget. I’m not paying for my own champagne.

Absolutely. Potentially libellous.

point you'd think so wouldn't you.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/09/labour-says-can-prove-starmer-team-worked-past-1am-beergate-night

People are obligated to provide you with evidence? Obviously not, this isn’t Durham police HQ.

You’ll just have to wait for what’s released like the rest of us.

The police have it, they don't have to publish it.

"Note" that!

Taking only 5 minutes to eat is bad for you.

Well how the hell do you know exactly what Starmer ordered van? I mean it is either extremely far fetched magical guessing or you are Keir. I am not sure which one....

I had no idea there was such effusive support for Starm on MN though, I have never seen so much gushing for what amounts to a very very underwhelming man that can't even recognise what a woman is despite being married and having a daughter.

I am sorry he is not better folks, he has let us all down regardless of what Durham PF bodge together, and he is not up to the job in my eyes.

Emily Thornton seems to be everywhere suddenly, she has one beady eye on the job for sure.

I know some people think everything is dead cheap up north but as somebody who lives in Co. Durham I can assure those who are aghast that they spent a whole £200 on beer and curry that it doesn't go that bloody far unless they have a whole loaves and fishes thing going on.
We've spent £100 on a family takeaway from our local Indian and that only included the one bottle of Cobra you get free when you spend £40... we could easily get to £200 by inviting the grandparents and buying us all a drink.

I find it weird how some people are so happy to gloss over the many already proven incidences of law breaking in the actual government but are forensically picking apart a single incident that had already been looked at and dismissed by police and doesn't involve the actual people who wrote the laws they broke.
The same people are aghast that they spent £200 when it seems cabinet members like Liz Truss spend thousands on a lunch and that's not shameful.

I saw a screenshot of a tweet a week or so ago from a labour employee saying ‘it was definitely work - I had to eat with my colleagues and I hate them’

I haven’t been able to find it again but I would take that as evidence it was a work event if I was the police

Get her name right.

Have you read the Guardian article I attached for you @Swayingpalmtrees
Lunch break must be nearly over...

I was going to say similar. Especially in a working day that is longer than the standard,, taking a longer amount of time for a break is just plain sensible.

Also I note 'swilling' to be added to 'chowing down' - deliberately pejorative language to describe acts of eating and drinking. Your posts are starting to reek of desperation, OP.

"I saw a screenshot of a tweet a week or so ago from a labour employee saying ‘it was definitely work - I had to eat with my colleagues and I hate them’ "

Amen to that.

I have never seen so much gushing for what amounts to a very very underwhelming man

I suppose if you’re treating the whole saga like some sort of fangirl of either side of the argument that’s what you’d see. It’s a bit more nuanced than that though isn’t it?

A company I previously worked at had a policy of giving each employee their own Deliveroo account, and an allowance of £20 per day, to order dinner whenever they worked past 7:30. There was also a corporate Addison Lee account so people could get a cab home if they worked past 10. Working late was so commonplace that on an almost daily basis everyone would pre-order their takeaways at half 5, and nobody bothered having a monthly season rail ticket because they so frequently worked past 10 that they almost never had to get the tube/train home.

Same company also had a, tradition if not policy, at 4pm on a Friday of everyone downing tools for half an hour and having a beer or a glass of wine together in the kitchen and then getting back to work.

Different company, every other week had pizza Friday where an absolute shitload of Dominos pizzas, along with bottled beers and some bottles of wine would be brought in for lunch, and again everyone would congregate in the kitchen, stuffing their faces with pizza and swilling beer before returning to their desks.

rainbow So the Labour Party are relying on a few Whatsapp messages from groups Keir is not even part of to use as defence! Just two aides were working on editing in fact to 1am, so hardly the entire group after the dinner in Miners Hall, and Keir was not even part of the messaging nor the work it seems!

It does appear that is all they have. Which is bloody shocking and won't hold up If that is truly the case and the evidence amounts to a WA, as it appears, the police can not avoid fining Starmer.

Not all participants in the WhatsApp group were at the hall – and Starmer is not a member of either group

Hardly water tight!
What was he thinking offering to resign?

A Cameron moment in the LP

underwhelming man that can't even recognise what a woman is despite being married and having a daughter.
Ohhhh, you’re one of those. Still, new ammunition for your scattershot approach, I suppose. So, so far you’ve got:

London
Standing
Smiling
Sauntering
Obesity crisis
Expensive takeaway
Emails at 1am don’t count
Trans issues
Offering to resign
Relocating his place of work after a meal

Have I missed any of his crimes?

And were they playing Abba ... ?

It's quite a good tactical move in some ways*. If he gets an FPN, he resigns and Johnson looks the worse for not resigning. If he doesn't get an FPN, he's demonstrated that he's a law-abiding citizen with a sense of responsibility and accountability, and Johnson looks even more of an arrogant twat who doesn't give a fuck and thinks he's somehow above the law.

I also suspect that he wouldn't have done it if there hadn't been some solid evidence that they were working.

Someone upthread said that this could leave the party without a leader or a deputy. That doesn't much matter, as general sec David "Don't Call Me Dave" Evans pulls the strings anyway. There's constitutional provision for some other officers of the party to take on those roles on an interim basis, which iirc is the party chair (Anneliese Dodds, I think) as party leader.

There's definitely provision for an interim leader of the parliamentary Labour party, but opinion is divided as to whether it is the shadow leader of the house (Thanggam Debonaire), chair of the PLP (John Cryer) or possibly shadow chancellor (Rachel Reeves). I can't be arsed to look it up, tbh.

*I say only in some ways, because I think the Tories would be harder to beat in a GE if they had a shiny new leader with an unblotted copybook than with the odious, lying lump of lard that is currently in the top job.

Apologies for the random bolding. No idea why that happens.