Speech therapists were not exempt from pandemic stay-at-home orders, which put additional pressure on Sir Keir Starmer due to a meeting during lockdown with an actress assisting him with speeches.
Prime Minister (PM) is set to face questioning in parliament regarding allegations of disregarding lockdown regulations to have an indoor meeting with vocal coach Leonie Mellinger, whom he classified as a “key worker”.
Last night former Cabinet Minister Richard Holden said: “NHS speech and language therapists help children with some of the most challenging needs.
Although speech therapists were not officially recognized as key workers during the lockdown, Sir Keir insisted that his own acting and voice coach fell into that category. This decision raised questions about his adherence to rules that were meant to be followed strictly and for a longer duration.
The Essex MP added: “Starmer is a cowardly hypocrite who doesn’t even have the decency to respond to the basic questions that the British people deserve answers to about this whole sorry affair.”
It has emerged the actress and vocal tutor was in fact a long term friend of the PM and only said she started working for the Labour leader in early 2021.
That was weeks after she attended party HQ in person at the height of lockdown on Christmas Eve 2020, despite boasting her virtual services online.
Ministers yesterday insisted no rules were broken and it was a work meeting – however Mellinger’s own website says that she was working via video calls throughout the pandemic.
Strict laws in place at the time said Brits must ‘Stay at Home’ if they could do their work from there.
Yesterday Reform MP Rupert Lowe also demanded to know whether Mellinger was really a “key worker” and why she travelled between tiers to see Sir Keir.
He hit out: Men and women were left to rot and die alone, but Keir Starmer could meet his sodding voice coach?”
Posing a number of questions to the PM, he added: “Did you break or bend lockdown rules in order to see your voice coach? Was a voice coach a ‘key worker’? Did any workers travel between tiers? Why was a video call not sufficient?”
Health Minister Karin Smyth refused to say the PM would not resign if found to have broken the rules – as he vowed to do while attacking Boris Johnson over lockdown breaches.
Sir Keir will face MPs at his weekly PMQs bout where the mounting questions will likely be put to him by furious opposition members.
