This is why it matters that Keir Starmer had a meeting with voice coach Leonie Mellinger on Christmas Eve 2020, as London was locked down under stringent Tier 4 Covid restrictions.
It’s not because of Sir Keir’s blatant political hypocrisy – the number of times he badgered and berated Boris Johnson for his own breaches of the Covid regulations.
‘The party is over Boris Johnson. Resign,’ he tweeted after it emerged the then prime minister had attended ‘socially distanced drinks’ in the Downing Street garden with more than 100 guests. Even though the police ultimately decided Johnson had not broken the law by attending.
Nor because he is once again taking the British people for fools. ‘Of course not!’ Starmer petulantly spat after a journalist had the temerity to ask him if he had broken the lockdown rules himself. ‘All rules were followed.’
No, they weren’t. The rules that Christmas were clear. ‘Everyone must work from home unless they are unable to do so,’ the Government had ordered. ‘Residents in Tiers 1-3 should not enter Tier 4 areas.’
But that’s precisely what Mellinger did. She travelled from her home in Brighton to Sir Keir’s office in central London. Even though she had begun conducting her training online the previous May.
It’s not even because Starmer has again been exposed over his faux, butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth, piety. ‘Honesty, transparency, accountability and integrity matter in politics,’ he preached when in opposition.
But yet again, every detail of his meeting with Mellinger has had to be forced out of him. Initially Downing Street refused to comment because they claimed the incident occurred before he took office. Then they refused to confirm whether or not they believed his voice coach met the definition of a key worker. Then they finally admitted she was not a key worker, but had still observed all the regulations anyway.
While in opposition, Sir Keir Starmer was not just a supporter of lockdown, he was an evangelist for it, Dan Hodges writes
No, the real reason that December 24th meeting matters is this: It put lives at risk.
Keir Starmer was not just a supporter of lockdown, he was an evangelist for it. In the weeks in the run up to that fateful Covid Christmas he had repeatedly attacked Boris Johnson and the Government for not introducing draconian enough restrictions.
Infection rates were likely to rise, he warned. The NHS would be placed under even grater strain. Indeed, his attacks were so aggressive Boris accused him of wanting to ‘cancel Christmas’.
And there was a reason Starmer was pushing hard for those restrictions. The same reason that the country was – in the main – observing them. Because we wanted to keep each other safe. We wanted to stop the virus spreading. We wanted to protect our families. And our neighbours. And our communities. And our country.
And one of the reasons we did was because Keir Starmer, and our other senior politicians, had urged us to. That very Christmas Sir Keir sent out his annual card to his friends and allies. It had a photo of him and his wife ‘clapping for carers’.
Its text read: ‘We continue to owe our carers and key workers a huge debt of gratitude. Their courage and dedication in the face of this virus has been truly incredible.
‘This Christmas, carers and emergency workers, alongside our armed forces and other key workers, will step up yet again. They will sacrifice precious time with their families to keep us safe. We must repay them, not just with our gratitude, but by fighting for fair pay and conditions for all those who have given so much to help our country through this pandemic.’
Now we know how he actually chose to repay them, and honour their sacrifice. By asking Leonie Mellinger to hop on a train and bust through the Covid tiers, potentially infecting the key workers who were keeping our vital public services operating. All just to teach him how to say ‘hostages’ rather than ‘sausages’.
Leonie Mellinger travelled from her home in Brighton to Sir Keir’s office in central London, Dan Hodges writes
Sacrificing precious time to be with their families? The Prime Minister wasn’t even prepared to sacrifice an hour with his voice coach.
Yes, as Covid retreats deeper and deeper into the pages of the history books, memories of that time begin to fade. Or at least they do for the lucky ones.
But less so for the relatives of the 227,000 who succumbed to that evil virus. Those who couldn’t even attend their funerals. Who couldn’t hug elderly parents or grandparents one final time.
Keir Starmer remembers them. Or at least, he claimed to.
In 2022, with the Partygate scandal raging, Sir Keir stood up in the House of Commons and eviscerated Boris Johnson as ‘a man without shame’. In what was to prove one of his most powerful speeches as leader of the opposition he referenced those who given so much in the fight against Covid.
‘They should feel pride in themselves and their country,’ he told a silent chamber ‘because by abiding by those rules they’ve saved the lives of people they will probably never meet. They have shown the deep public spirit, and love and respect for others that has always characterised this nation at its best.’
As he articulated those words, I wonder if he was remembering Mellinger’s training. The brief pauses. The careful intonation. Maybe he even called her before he delivered it. Practised with her the key phrase ‘saved the lives of people they never met’.
Some people have been demanding Keir Starmer’s resignation over ‘Voice coach-gate’. They can save their breath. The rules were clear, but the Covid laws in place at that time were a mess. We saw that with the numerous parties Boris Johnson attended which did not lead to charges from the police. We saw it with Sir Keir himself over his beer and curry in Durham. There will be no judicial reckoning for this Prime Minister.
But it still matters. Not because of the hypocrisy. Or the patronising, self-serving dismissals. Or the grating self-righteousness.
It matters because at a time when people across the country were looking to protect one another, Kier Starmer was thinking only of himself. Of how he could deliver a neat line, or turn a slick phrase. People couldn’t bury their dead, but Starmer couldn’t get by without his voice coach.
A man without shame? Sir Keir needs to look a little closer to home.
