Frustrated Keir Starmer condemned Tory’mudslinging’ today over his lockdown beer, electoral ‘pacts,’ and Angela Rayner.
Before Thursday’s local elections, Labour’s leader accused the Conservatives of “slinging mud around” to divert attention away from their inability to address the cost of living.
Sir Keir confessed today that his staff made an “error” by incorrectly declaring his deputy Angela Rayner was not present on the night he had a beer while campaigning in Durham on April 30, 2021.
Indoor gatherings of various families were prohibited under Covid legislation at the time, however gatherings “reasonably necessary for business” were excluded.
“We simply made a mistake, it’s a genuine mistake,” Labour’s leader maintained.
It comes after the Mail on Sunday accused Ms. Rayner of being the one who, like Sharon Stone in the film Basic Instinct, uttered a joke about crossing and uncrossing her legs to distract Boris Johnson at PMQs.
The original narrative had been denounced by Ms. Rayner as “desperate, perverse smears.”
Labour has not refuted that she made a light-hearted reference to her “ginger g***ler” to MPs on the Commons terrace, as reported by the Mail.
The Mail’s initial phrasing of the claim – that Rayner was uncrossing her legs on purpose – has been rebutted by sources.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir refuted Tory chairman Oliver Dowden’s accusations that Labour was putting together a “pact” with the Lib Dems for local elections, which he had “attempted to conceal from the voters.”
Mr. Dowden said Labour was fielding candidates in 61 percent of South West seats this Thursday, down from 97 percent in 2018, while the Lib Dems were fielding candidates in 56 percent of seats in the North East, down from 78 percent in 2018.
“There is no contract, everybody knows there is no pact,” Labour’s leader asserted. “I believe, and I’ll gladly have this checked out, that we are fielding more Labour candidates this election than we have ever fielded,” he continued.
