14:38 2022-05-26
crimes - citeste alte articole pe aceeasi tema
Comentarii Adauga Comentariu
_ Labour deputy Angela Rayner denies Beergate cover-up and says she was 'so diligent' about Covid
_ Labour deputy Angela Rayner denies Beergate cover-up and says she was 'so diligent' about Covid
Labour deputy leader
Durham Police are currently investigating allegations of Covid rule-breaking by Ms Rayner and Labour leader Sir
Both have pledged to resign if they are handed a Fixed Penalty Notice over the event.
It took place when indoor gatherings were banned, apart from an exception for 'work purposes'.
Labour recently admitted Ms Rayner had joined Sir Keir at the Durham gathering after the Party previously denied she was there.
The astonishing U-turn deepened the Beergate row and led to renewed questions about Labour's account of the Friday night gathering, which they have always insisted was a 'work event'.
Speaking to ITV's Loose Women today, Ms Rayner denied that she personally had ever tried to conceal her attendance alongside Sir Keir.
She revealed she had joined others in eating a takeaway curry at the event - at which Sir Keir was filmed sipping beer - but stressed she would not be able to 'look my friends in the eye' if she thought she had broken lockdown restrictions.
Ms Rayner insisted there hadn't been 'months of denials' about her presence at Durham Miners Hall, where Labour staff gathered in the run-up to local council elections and the Hartlepool by-election.
'There were social media pictures of me there,' she told the daytime show.
'He (Sir Keir) didn't say I wasn't there. Some member of staff had said once that I wasn't there.
'We literally did a video together while we there.'
She added: 'There's never been any point where I said I wasn't there. I literally put my profile picture of me in the miner's hall.'
'I've literally always said I was in Durham and I was at that event because it was part of the campaign. You can't hide it.'
Asked whether she remained committed to her pledge to resign as Labour deputy should she be fined by Durham Police, Ms Rayner replied: '100 per cent. Because integrity matters and this is why I'm so confident about it.
'I didn't see my granddaughter through that period, I had two relatives that died. We all suffered our own personal stories around it.'
'As MPs we said "these are the rules, this is what you have to stick by". If you break those rules and you get a Fixed Penalty Notice, you can't be in office.
'I can't be in office if I do that, it's not ok.'
Ms Rayner insisted she was 'absolutely not worried' about the police investigation.
She added she had beeen 'so diligent' about Covid restrictions throughout the pandemic.
The Labour deputy described how she had been unable to help her son look after her granddaughter.
'He was furloughed for a while and him and his missus they were having such a difficult time because they had young kids,' she said.
'It's hard work keeping indoors... they didn't have a back garden. I've got a back garden, they couldn't come round as they normally do and let the kids run wild in my back garden because they weren't allowed round.
'People went through all of these personal sacrifices, that's what's so triggering for people.'
Ms Rayner also told the programme that she 'couldn't look my friends in the eye' if she thought she had broken Covid rules.
'I gave one of my friends my car because she had to get to work, she was a key worker,' she said.
'She worked in a supermarket, she had no way of getting to work. She had kids that needed to go to school because they were in school because she was a key worker, she had no way of getting to work.
'I gave her my car over that period. People went through a huge amount and I totally understand that.
'And I couldn't look them in the eye if I thought for one minute I was toasting and laughing and enjoying myself.'
Ms Rayner, along with Sir Keir, have both repeatedly demanded Boris Johnson resign over the Partygate scandal - including when the Metropolitan Police began their investigation into Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street.
But the Labour deputy insisted there was a difference between Labour's own Beergate row and the 'culture' of parties in Number 10.
'There was so much partying, every Friday was Wine Friday,' she said about Downing Street.
Comentarii:
Adauga Comentariu