Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of breaking lockdown rules when a voice coach came to Labour headquarters during COVID.
The Labour Party has denied the prime minister breached COVID rules in December 2020 for employing actress and voice coach Leonie Mellinger to help him prepare a response to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
Two Sunday Times journalists, Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, said in their book Get In that Ms Mellinger advised Sir Keir on his speaking style.
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Excerpts of the book said she qualified for “key worker” status and visited the Labour Party’s headquarters on 24 December 2020 wearing a face mask.
At the time, London and the South East were under Tier 4 restrictions, which meant no households were allowed to mix and people had to work from home unless they were unable to do so.
Conservative former minister Richard Holden has written to Sir Keir asking whether he thinks he was breaching the law.
A Labour spokesman said: “The rules were followed at all times.”
It is understood Sir Keir was working at the time with a small team that was preparing him for a response to Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal, with a TV camera filming it all.
Voice coach and actor Leonie Mellinger. Pic: Alan Davidson/Shutterstock
A recommendation on Ms Mellinger’s website from Sir Keir says: “Thanks for all your help and support along the way which made all this possible.”
Mr Holden has asked the prime minister if he will now appoint an independent investigator to clear up the claims.
The Tory MP wrote in his letter: “Do you think it would be right for other members of the public to get acting lessons during tier 4 restrictions?”
Sky News understands there will not be an investigation into whether Sir Keir was working.
Signing off the letter, Mr Holden added: “There is a strong public interest into your conduct during the pandemic and it is clear from these revelations that not only have you misled the public but you had a casual disregard for the law at a time when so many people were making such difficult sacrifices all in the service of advancing your own political career.
“You have said ‘honesty and decency matters’ – I hope you will treat these questions to you with the same standards you asked of others.”
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This is not the first time Mr Holden has questioned Sir Keir’s lockdown conduct.
He queried the Labour leader’s conduct around “Beergate”, when Sir Keir and deputy leader Angela Rayner were pictured drinking beer and eating a takeaway at a Labour Party meeting during a local election campaign in Durham in April 2021.
A police investigation found they had not breached COVID rules as the event complied with the regulations for work gatherings, with a pause for food.