Starmer criticised for meeting Brighton voice coach during lockdown

Sir Keir Starmer met with Brighton-based voice coach Leonie Mellinger during the winter of 2020.

Leonie Mellinger, an actress and communications coach, made the journey from Brighton to London on Christmas Eve 2020 when the capital was under Tier 4 restrictions. At the time, Brighton was under Tier 3 rules.

Under Tier 3 rules people were told not to meet socially indoors or in most outdoor places with anybody they did not live with, or who was not in their support bubble.

In excerpts of Get In, a book on Sir Keir’s leadership being serialised by The Sunday Times, Mellinger is described as having qualified for “key worker” status.

Key workers were given exemptions from some restrictions.

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.

Critics have seized on the revelation as evidence of what they suggest amounts to a potential breach of lockdown rules.

Health minister Karin Smyth defended Sir Keir, saying he 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.

“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.

At the end of a press conference during his visit to Brussels on Monday, Sir Keir was asked whether he broke rules during the Covid pandemic.

“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 Sir Keir considered the voice coach to be a key worker, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman 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.”