SHADOW secretary Peter Kyle has praised Sir Keir Starmer as a man of integrity after the Labour leader was cleared of wrongdoing over beergate.

Sir Keir had promised to resign if he received a fine for breaking Covid regulations during a gathering in the offices of a Labour MP in Durham in April 2021.

However, after re-opening an inquiry into the event, police found there was no case to answer regarding any of the participants.

Hove MP and shadow Northern Ireland secretary said that the choice between Labour and the Conservatives has never been more clear.

He said: “This is who Keir Starmer is and what kind of Prime Minister he will be.

“Integrity and decency matters - and this week the choice has never been more stark.”

In a speech after the announcement by Durham Police, Sir Keir said: “People said to me I was taking a risk by saying I would step down if I was fined, but it was never about that. For me, it was a matter of principle.

“It shouldn’t be controversial to say that those who make the law can’t break the law - but we have to set the bar far higher than that.”

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner was also found to have not broken Covid regulations by the police investigation.

A Durham Police spokesman said that the investigation had been “thorough, detailed and proportionate” and that it will not identify those who attended the gathering last year.

He said: “It has been concluded that there is no case to answer for a contravention of the regulations, due to the application of an exception, namely reasonably necessary work.”

If it had resulted in fixed penalty notices, the investigation would have plunged the party into political turmoil just as Westminster was grappling with the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The gathering, dubbed beergate, took place during a visit by the Labour leader ahead of the Hartlepool by-election.

Sir Keir was videoed drinking a bottle of beer over a takeaway curry with colleagues in the office of Mary Foy MP.