A senior Labour MP has launched a fierce defence of Prime Minister Keir Starmer over allegations he broke Covid lockdown rules – dismissing the claims as Conservative “mudslinging”.
Health Minister Karin Smyth told GB News: “I think what we’re seeing again is more mudslinging by the Tories on this issue at a time when they were partying.
“We’ve got all the evidence of that and the sorry tale of that. Keir was working. Working was allowed in tier four in London at that time.”
GB News host Ellie Costello pressed: “Keir Starmer made a pledge and a promise that if he was found to have broken the rules he said he would resign.
Karin Smyth defended Keir Starmer
GB News
“So if he is found to have broken the rules, and there’s some suggestion that he has, should he resign as Prime Minister?”
The MP fumed in response: “This is all hypothetical and speculation. It’s the same MP that started that last investigation that is starting this one.
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“We want to get on with changing the country. That’s why I’m here today. Talking about cancer that infects two in one, half of us are going to get cancer.
“Some of us have had diagnosis of cancer in the last year. I think that’s what the country wants us to get on with.
“That’s what care is focused on the future, getting us treated, getting us through those waiting lists faster. Those are the things that are really occupying us at this time.”
The controversy centres on Starmer’s meeting with voice coach Leonie Mellinger at Labour Party headquarters in Westminster on Christmas Eve 2020.
Keir Starmer met with his voice coach when London was in a tier four zone
PA
London was under strict tier 4 restrictions at the time, with residents required to follow “Stay At Home” rules due to rising infections.
According to a new book “Get In” by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, Mellinger was granted permission to travel as a “key worker” to advise Starmer on his response to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
The actress and communications coach visited Labour HQ wearing a face mask for the session.
At a Nato press conference in Brussels, Starmer firmly rejected suggestions he had broken lockdown rules.
Ellie Costello grilled Karin Smyth asking whether he “should resign”
GB News
“Of course not,” the Prime Minister responded when asked directly about the allegations, adding that “all the rules were followed at all times.”
His official spokesman later declined to comment on whether the voice coach was considered a key worker, stating: “I’m not going to get into any matter to do with opposition.”
Labour has consistently maintained that “the rules were followed” throughout the period in question.