Keir Starmer has denied breaking lockdown rules after it emerged he had a face-to-face acting lesson with a voice coach on Christmas Eve 2020 when London was under strict Covid restrictions. The Mail has more.
The Prime Minister insisted no rules had been broken as he was quizzed about his professional session with Leonie Mellinger on Christmas Eve in 2020.
London was under ‘Tier 4 restrictions’ at the time the actress and communications skills coach travelled to Labour HQ in Westminster.
The capital’s nine million residents were adhering to stringent ‘Stay At Home’ rules following a rapid rise in infections attributed to a new variant of the virus.
But according to a new book serialised in the Sunday Times, advisers to the PM said she she had “permission to travel as a key worker”.
People were able to travel for work if they “cannot work from home”, but the Tories questioned whether it was “right for other members of the public to get acting lessons during tier 4 restrictions”.
After a press conference at Nato headquarters in Brussels tonight the PM was asked if the sessions were a breach of lockdown rules, replying: “Of course not.”
Tory former Cabinet Minister Richard Holden has written to the PM demanding he explain why the lessons were in line with the rules.
“We all know that Sir Keir has that strange nasal, adenoidal, issue with his voice, so he may have considered it very important, whether or not the country did when they were all locked down is the question at the heart of the matter here,” he told GB News.
“I don’t think… acting classes were essential – we didn’t either, as a country, because we basically stopped those in-person university courses across the piste as well.
“It is also quite clear that at the time the Labour Party didn’t think so, because they had had virtual meetings with her, they are mentioned in this book as well.”
Get In, by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, claims classically trained dramatist Ms Mellinger advised the Prime Minister on his speaking style.
Excerpts of the book published in the Sunday Times said she qualified for ‘key worker’ status and visited Labour Party headquarters wearing a face mask in December 2020, to advise Sir Keir on how to publicly respond to the Brexit deal.
A Labour spokesman said: “The rules were followed.”
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The reopening of schools combined with the new restrictions for attendance, is only going to make the situation worse.