New Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been accused of ‘drinking on the job’ after he was pictured enjoying a pint of Guinness with his Irish equivalent, and everyone is asking the same question.
Starmer, who romped to victory to oust Rishi Sunak as the country’s chief, inivted Irish Taoisech (equivalent to PM) Simon Harris to Chequers for what, allegedly, was a very serious political summit.
However, Starmer was the brunt of jokes on X as he and Harris posed holding a pint of Guinness each in the Chequers garden.
READ MORE: Rubbish-strewn estate where residents ‘live in fear’ as snitches get stitches
Click for more of the latest news from the Daily Star.
“Cheers/sláinte – to friendship,” the PM wrote on the site, tagging his new drinking buddy.
(Image: Getty Images)
The reaction generally was one of Brits and Irish happy that the politcal tone between the two countries appears to have improved, but others wanted to know if Starmer ‘split the G’ – a popular Guinness drinking gimmick.
“Is this reporting from reputable source RapTV accurate, Prime Minister?” one X user asked, sharing a graphic that claimed Starmer ‘failed to split the G’.
A second person said: “Keir Starmer fails to split the G, forced to leave Chequers.”
A third person joked: “Really hope you get an ‘I love Chequers’ t shirt if you split the G.”
A look at the full photoshoot from Chequers suggests that neither man even attempted to split the G, only taking one polite sip each.
Some questioned whether Starmer should be drinking in the day time whilst running a country, but the beer was most likely just a prop in a photo op.
One woman called Katie asked: “All I’ve seen from your posts is out drinking on the job or at the football, hardly professional don’t you think?”
(Image: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street)
Another person dubbed the Labour leader ‘Beer Starmer’.
One bloke called Phil wanted to know the source of the pint. “Important constitutional questions. Does Chequers have its own bar with Guinness kegs or is this creamy head from Nitrosurge or a standard can?” he wrote.
Some thought the drinks looked good. “Actually they look like decent pints of Guinness…in Chequers?” one bloke wrote.
Another said: “Hope he gets a proper pint #guinness and not from a can in the home of Guinness.”
‘Bucko’ wasn’t happy with the Guinness quality, writing: “Whoever poured those pints deserves the sack. Lets be honest. Terrible pour.”
Ger slammed the quality of the head, lamenting: “Who poured Harris’s Guinness?!?! The head is a disgrace!!”
Away from the drinking, Starmer pledged to repeal the controversial Legacy Act, which offered immunity to Troubles-era crimes in Northern Ireland.
In June 2022, Starmer posed with a pint of the black stuff with his face on it in Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.