Number 10 roped Rachel Reeves into the #VoiceCoachGate scandal today, with Starmer’s spokesman confirming she was part of the “core team” that met with him and his voice coach to “work at speed” on a Brexit deal statement. A reminder that Starmer refused to say whether he adhered to all Covid rules during this lockdown meeting at PMQs today…
Five days after the voice coach meeting, a member of Reeves’ household tested positive for Covid, aligning with the virus’ typical incubation period at the time. On 29 December 2020, Reeves tweeted:
“On Monday, a member of my household tested positive for Covid. Thankfully they are doing okay… I am not showing symptoms, but will now be working from home, including closing the Parliamentary debate on the UK’s trade deal with the EU. Please keep safe & follow public health advice.”
It’s exactly why in person meetings were being discouraged, most loudly by Labour politicians themselves…
While Kemi Badenoch missed the opportunity to hammer Starmer over VoiceCoachGate, Tory MP Gagan Mohindra stepped up and pressed the PM on whether he could confirm to the House that he, and his voice coach Leonie Mellinger, followed all the rules during their in-person lockdown meeting when London was under strict Tier 4 restrictions. Starmer refused to say that all the rules were followed…
Starmer’s sanctimonious line that the Tories were far worse during Partygate and that he’d been working “at speed” on a Brexit statement won’t cut it. His refusal to confirm that he followed the rules during his meeting with his long-time family friend — who wasn’t even officially working for Labour at the time — while he was pushing for harsher restrictions, will be sending Number 10 into full panic mode. Mr Rules’ credibility is hanging by a thread…
- Was the meeting actually a social call rather than a work event? His voice coach was a long-standing family friend…
- If so, was any alcohol consumed during the voice training session?
- If Mellinger was present for work purposes only, how can it be that she was not employed by Labour until the following month (January 2021)?
- Does any invoice or evidence of payment exist for the delivery of the in person voice training session?
- Given that NHS voice therapists were working remotely at the time – and Mellinger promoted her own remote practice – why was the in person meeting necessary?
- Why has Labour now dropped its initial explanation that Mellinger was a ‘key worker’?
- Who was her line manager? Did she have a contract of any kind at the time?
As co-conspirators will recall, few politicians made more noise about ‘taking Covid seriously’ in 2020 than Keir Starmer. He was one of the loudest voices calling for harsher restrictions than tiered lockdowns in December 2020. That same month, his office invited around 40 Labour advisers to a Christmas party, only to cancel it on December 15th London was placed under Tier 3 restrictions. Yet, despite this supposed caution, Starmer still saw fit to meet his vocal coach, Leonie Mellinger, in person on Christmas Eve—when London was under even stricter Tier 4 rules…
Earlier 0n December 5th 2020, Starmer was forced to self-isolate for 10 days after a staffer in his private office tested positive for Covid. Just eight days after his isolations period was over, he was sitting down for an in-person coaching session. Why did this meeting go ahead when he was cancelling other events due to elevated restrictions? Especially when he’d previously been happy to meet his voice coach online…
Keir Starmer’s voice coach, Leonie Mellinger, is an unsurprising choice for a Labour leader who’s spent years perfecting the art of sanctimonious lecturing. Mellinger, a committed Boris-basher and anti-Tory activist, has been relentless in her online attacks on any Conservatives, gleefully retweeting headlines like “Boris’s buffoonery and banter no laughing matter at PMQs” and “Desperate Boris Johnson to step up personal attacks on Keir Starmer.” She’s also reposted Starmer’s Guardian piece slamming Boris for supposedly “losing control” of Covid, calling for stricter measures than the ones at the time…
Mellinger—who miraculously managed to visit Starmer on Christmas Eve 2020, despite London being under Tier 4 lockdown and claiming all her work was online —was more than happy to amplify Labour’s partygate outrage. She reposted many Labour party and Starmer tweets calling for Johnson and Sunak to resign. She also reposted Starmer’s nothing to see here Beergate defence that “no rules were broken while I was in Durham.” Meanwhile, eyebrows have been raised over initial reports their “relationship began” in April 2020. Though as Guido revealed last night, Mellinger’s husband Anothy Burton co-founded a death penalty charity with Starmer much earlier than that – way back in 2005. Starmer was also paid £18,000 for legal advice he provided to Burton’s solicitors firm from 2016 to 2019. Was Mellinger more of a Labour fellow traveller than a voice coach?
Questions over Starmer’s in-person meeting with vocal coach Leonie Mellinger refuse to go away. Downing Street today chose to stay silent on matters from Starmer’s time in Opposition—despite no hesitation when it came to commenting on his 2022 ‘work from home’ video filmed in Lord Alli’s penthouse. Meanwhile, the media interest is picking up…
Sky News has reported on the Tories accusing Starmer of a lockdown breach, the Evening Standard, the Independent, The Sun and other papers have picked up on the questions Richard Holden posed that Starmer must answer. Broadcasters such as GB News are highlighting the hypocrisy of ‘Mr. Rules’, who lectured Boris on lockdown breaches and repeatedly parroted the sanctimonious line that “lawmakers should not be lawbreakers.” Meanwhile, TalkTV’s Mike Graham mocked Starmer over the absurdity, not just hypocrisy of it all—“of all the people to have a secret meeting with, a voice coach on Christmas Eve…What’s wrong with him?” This headache for Starmer isn’t looking to go away anytime soon…
Reform MP Danny Kruger welcomed adult film star Bonnie Blue’s support for the party, adding:
“I’m not going to be judgemental about people who want to vote Reform. We want all the support we can get – quite like Bonnie Blue.”
