A voice coach employed by Keir Starmer during Covid was part of a small team preparing him to give Labour’s formal response to Boris Johnson’s Brexit team, and needed to be there in person, Downing Street has said.
The Conservatives have called for a police investigation into whether lockdown rules were breached by having Leonie Mellinger travel to London in December 2020 to work with the then opposition leader.
Asked about the claims during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer said he had been working in accordance with the rules at the time, contrasting this with Johnson’s government, who he said were “partying and fighting, vomiting up the walls, leaving the cleaner to remove red wine stains”.
Asked why Mellinger, an actor and communications skills coach, had been with Starmer in person, the prime minister’s press secretary said this had happened after Johnson announced his Brexit deal on 24 December 2020.
“Keir Starmer had to respond to that as leader of the opposition,” she said. “It was a hugely significant moment for our country that meant going through the published details of the agreement and giving a televised press conference on the same day. And as [Starmer] set out, he had a small team of people supporting him with that, which wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.”
A government source said Mellinger had worked with Starmer since 2017, mainly in person. They said she was part of a small group helping prepare for Starmer’s virtual address and dealing with Brexit issues. This group had also included Rachel Reeves, then the shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, as well as a pooled broadcast team and technical support personnel.
Mellinger’s presence was “in line with the requirements that you could go to work if you needed to”, the source said, adding that days later, with the same restrictions in place, “parliament was recalled and MPs came in rightly to debate and vote on one of the most important pieces of legislation in our country’s history”.
A spokesperson for the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said: “The key question here is: is a voice coach a key worker who can travel from tier 4 to tier 3 [restriction levels] during lockdown? It doesn’t matter if you’re part of a core team, that is the question.
“Now, Keir Starmer said that lawmakers can’t be lawbreakers. It is almost unimaginable to disagree that that was a clear breach of the Covid rules.” Asked if Badenoch thought police should investigate, her spokesperson said: “Yes, she does.”
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Police are unlikely to investigate, as it is more than three years since any alleged offence. Also, under the rules in place at the time, the rationale for someone being in work in person was not that they were a key worker, but they had a legitimate work reason to do so.
Article by:Source: Peter Walker Senior political correspondent
