Did Keir Starmer’s voice coach really count as a Covid ‘key worker’?

Who knew that being a voice coach qualified for ‘key worker’ status during the pandemic lockdowns? It has been revealed that the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer employed a personal voice coach as a ‘key worker’ during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite strict government guidelines at the time. The rules defined critical workers as those essential to public services – including those on the frontline of health, social care and transport. Nowhere does the official guidance mention the life-saving qualities of voice coaches as worthy exemptions to the lockdown rules. Yet, according to a report in the Times, Starmer appointed Leonie Mellinger, an actress and communications skills specialist, in such a role. Did the then opposition leader breach lockdown rules in doing so? His behaviour would appear to be at odds with his repeated public condemnations of lockdown rules breaches. There is more than a whiff of self-serving political hypocrisy. 

What did Mellinger actually do to merit any special privileges? She has spoken publicly about helping a notoriously reticent politician discover his voice and counselling him as he considered resigning in 2021 but her place in Starmer’s inner circle has only now been made public.