Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of breaking lockdown guidelines when a voice coach got here to Labour headquarters throughout COVID.
The Labour Get together has denied the prime minister breached COVID guidelines in December 2020 for using actress and voice coach Leonie Mellinger to assist him put together a response to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
Two Sunday Instances journalists, Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, stated of their ebook Get In that Ms Mellinger suggested Sir Keir on his talking model.
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Excerpts of the ebook stated she certified for “key worker” standing and visited the Labour Get together’s headquarters on 24 December 2020 sporting a face masks.
On the time, London and the South East had been underneath Tier 4 restrictions, which meant no households had been allowed to combine and folks needed to earn a living from home until they had been unable to take action.
Conservative former minister Richard Holden has written to Sir Keir asking whether or not he thinks he was breaching the legislation.
A Labour spokesman stated: “The rules were followed at all times.”
It’s understood Sir Keir was working on the time with a small crew that was making ready him for a response to Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal, with a TV digital camera filming all of it.
Picture:
Voice coach and actor Leonie Mellinger. Pic: Alan Davidson/Shutterstock
A suggestion on Ms Mellinger’s web site from Sir Keir says: “Thanks for all your help and support along the way which made all this possible.”
Mr Holden has requested the prime minister if he’ll now appoint an impartial investigator to clear up the claims.
The Tory MP wrote in his letter: “Do you think it would be right for other members of the public to get acting lessons during tier 4 restrictions?”
Signing off the letter, Mr Holden added: “There is a strong public interest into your conduct during the pandemic and it is clear from these revelations that not only have you misled the public but you had a casual disregard for the law at a time when so many people were making such difficult sacrifices all in the service of advancing your own political career.
“You’ve got stated ‘honesty and decency issues’ – I hope you’ll deal with these inquiries to you with the identical requirements you requested of others.”
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This isn’t the primary time Mr Holden has questioned Sir Keir’s lockdown conduct.
He queried the Labour chief’s conduct round “Beergate”, when Sir Keir and deputy chief Angela Rayner had been pictured consuming beer and consuming a takeaway at a Labour Get together assembly throughout an area election marketing campaign in Durham in April 2021.
A police investigation discovered they’d not breached COVID guidelines because the occasion complied with the laws for work gatherings, with a pause for meals.
