THE Tories are only “mudslinging” by claiming Keir Starmer flouted Covid lockdown rules after hiring a voice coach for face-to-face sessions during the winter of 2020, a Labour minister has said.
It comes after excerpts of Get In, a book on Starmer’s leadership being serialised by The Sunday Times, describe coach Leonie Mellinger as having qualified for “key worker” status.
She also wore a face mask during the meeting at Labour Party headquarters on Christmas Eve in 2020, according to the book by political journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund.
The Prime Minister has denied breaching pandemic restrictions, but opposition critics have seized on the revelation as evidence of what they suggest amounts to a potential breach of lockdown rules, as London and the South East were under regional restrictions at the time.
Jake Berry, who briefly served as Tory Party chairman under Liz Truss, told GB News: “What really galls me about this is his office says, ‘we said she was a key worker’.
“You can't do that. It was set out in law. I voted in Parliament on what constituted a key worker.
“You couldn't suddenly go, ‘you know what? I need my nails done. Today I will designate the person who does my nails as a key worker’. It is a disgrace.”
He added: “The real question here is, did the person who is now Prime Minister of the United Kingdom break the law?
“On these facts it appears that he may have done. The precedent is that you resign and he said he'd resign if he was convicted.”
In fact, Boris Johnson – the only UK prime minister to have ever been found to have broken the law while in office – did not resign.
Prime Minister Starmer has said that he “of course” did not breach restrictions.
Health minister Karin Smyth defended the leader on Tuesday, saying Starmer was working to prepare for interviews in the run up to the UK leaving the EU.
“I think what we’re seeing again is more mudslinging by the Tories on this issue at a time when they were partying – and we’ve got all the evidence of that, and the sorry tale of that,” Smyth said.
“Keir was working. Working was allowed in tier four in London at that time,” she told GB News.
Tory former minister Richard Holden has written to the Prime Minister to ask whether he thinks it flouted the restrictions and insisted he has “serious questions” to answer.
“Of course not,” he replied before leaving the podium.
Downing Street had repeatedly refused to be drawn on the claims that lockdown rules were breached when asked by journalists earlier on Monday.
Asked if Starmer considered the voice coach to be a key worker, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “I’m not going to get into any matter to do with opposition.
“The Prime Minister is focused on delivering on the Government’s priorities and the people’s priorities.”
