Sir Keir Starmer refused seven times to answer a question on whether he had taken drugs while he worked as a lawyer.
The Labour leader instead responded by saying ‘I had a good time when I was a student’ but would not explain what that meant when pushed.
Sir Keir was embroiled in the uncomfortable exchange as he was asked seven times by The Sun about the last time he took illegal substances.
But he refused to give a straight answer, only alluding to his university days. Sir Keir wouldn’t budge from his stance, and said he ‘wouldn’t be going down that road’ when asked if he ever did drugs when he was a lawyer.
At one point during the awkward back-and-forth, Sir Keir pauses and leans forward as he hand clutches a glass of water.
Sir Keir Starmer refused seven times to answer a question on whether he had taken drugs while he worked as a lawyer
A young Keir Starmer appears on ITN in 1994 when he was a barrister where he made the case to reform Britain’s legal system
He finally shuts down the conversation when he says: ‘Look, I’ve explained I had a good time at university and that’s the long and the short of it.’
In a 2021 ITV interview with Piers Morgan, Sir Keir was asked 14 times whether he had ever taken drugs, only to get the response: ‘We worked hard and played hard.’
The grilling occurred during a three-hour sit-down for the hit Life Stories series amid claims the Labour leader was a ‘party animal’ at university.
Mr Morgan then pressed Sir Keir to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, saying: ‘Given your clear reluctance to give me a straight, simple answer, am I right in assuming from your response that you have tried drugs but that you didn’t actually like them and didn’t want to take any more?’
Sir Keir said: ‘I haven’t said no.’
Red Knight, an unauthorised biography of Sir Keir by Lord Ashcroft, quoted an anonymous friend saying the Labour leader was ‘not averse to smoking weed at social occasions when he was a younger man’.
It comes as Sir Keir last night defended taking money from a banned terrorist group after admitting to providing legal advice to Hizb ut-Tahrir in 2008, during his career as a prominent barrister, though said he had not represented them.
The Islamist group was proscribed earlier this year meaning it is illegal to join the organisation in the UK.
Sir Keir defended giving legal advice to the group when Germany was attempting to ban them.
A young Keir Starmer pictured during his university days. When asked if he had ever taken drugs the Labour leader said ‘I had a good time when I was a student’
Sir Keir pictured in 2009 during his stint as the director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service
Sir Keir was known for his human rights work before he took on the role as the CPS’ director. He was knighted in 2014 by the then Prince Charles for his service to law and criminal justice
Keir Starmer with his parents, Rodney and Josephine, taken on his wedding day to wife Victoria Alexander in 2007
‘Lawyers give legal advice, doctors treat patients, the fact a doctor treats a patient doesn’t mean the doctor agrees with that patient’s beliefs,’ he said.
On the principle that everyone has a right to legal representation, he told The Sun: ‘Of course I don’t agree with these people but that doesn’t adjust the principle.’
The Tories have taken aim at the Labour leader’s past work for the now-banned group.
They previously tweeted a poster saying: ‘Are you a terrorist in need of legal advice? Better call Keir.’
The issue has been the subject of fiery exchanges between Mr Sunak and the Labour leader during Prime Minister’s Questions. Founded in 1953, Hizb ut-Tahrir is a pan-Islamic fundamentalist group which has been banned in several Arab and Asian countries, including China, as well as in Germany.
With headquarters in Lebanon, the group also operates in at least 32 countries.
It has organised rallies which took place on the streets of London alongside pro-Palestine marches in recent months, following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Sir Keir studied law at Leeds where he graduated with first class honours before going on to do a post-graduate at Oxford.
He was knighted by the then Prince Charles for his service to law and criminal justice in 2014.
His parents, Rodney and Josephine, attended the ceremony at Buckingham Palace alongside their beloved Great Dane dog – although by that stage his mother was gravely ill and in a wheelchair.
She died a year later.
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