Starmer's gamble: leader pledges to quit if he is fined over Beergate

Labour says it has proof campaign team worked late on night of gathering

- Jessica Elgot, Rowena Mason, Vikram Dodd

Keir Starmer dramatically pledged to quit if he is fined for breaking lockdown rules as Labour prepared to present police with a dossier of evidence to show his team worked beyond lam on the night he was pictured drinking a beer.

The Guardian can reveal Labour has compiled time-stamped logs of WhatsApp chats, documents and video edits, which it will provide to the investigation by Durham police.

The party claims it proves the curry and beers shared between Starmer's team came as part of a long working day preparing for the Hartlepool byelection, meaning it was permitted under Covid rules at the time.

In a speech yesterday after hours of agonising with his aides, Starmer took the gamble of his career by saying he would resign if police issued him with a fixed-penalty notice for what happened on 30 April last year.

His deputy, Angela Rayner, who was also at Durham Miners Hall, also said she would resign if fined.

Starmer said he was determined to prove he had “different principles to the prime minister”, who has already been issued with 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 he was fined, saying: "The British public deserve politicians who think the rules apply to them."

Detectives investigating the circumstances of the takeaway curry are considering interviewing the Labour leader face-to-face, the Guardian understands.

Durham's police's investigation is set to extend into at least June and any of the at least 15 people present could face a fine if deemed by detectives to have broken laws.