Sir Keir Starmer has broken his silence over new claims he broke Covid lockdown rules in 2020 by using a voice coach to improve his speeches.
The Prime Minister is under growing pressure to address the claims made in a new book about his time as leader of the opposition.
The book, first serialised at the weekend, claimed the PM found his acting guru Leonie Mellinger so important to his leadership he personally deemed her an “essential worker” so she could break work-from-home guidance and visit him at Labour Party headquarters.
Amid demands for an independent inquiry into the claims, Sir Keir has now insisted he followed the rules.
Ambushed by a question at his press conference with NATO chief Mark Rutte in Brussels, the PM was asked: “Did you break lockdown rules, Prime Minister?”
A flustered Sir Keir hit back: “Of course not.”
Amid heckles from journalists about whether his voice coach constituted a key worker, the PM insisted “all the rules were followed at all times” before walking out of the room.
His official spokesman refused to answer basic questions about the claims and said he could not say whether an independent inquiry would be launched.
At lunchtime, the Conservative frontbencher Richard Holden blasted: “It’s simply not good enough for the PM’s spokesperson to try to dismiss, dodge and dissemble when faced with legitimate questions about whether the PM broke Covid rules.
“Sir Keir Starmer repeatedly claimed he’d followed all the rules and even promised to step down if he was found to have broken any.
“These revelations suggest he misled the public and disregarded the law while people across our country made immense sacrifices.
“With so many questions to answer, Sir Keir needs to come clean and appoint an independent investigator without delay now even his own spokesman is refusing to answer even the most basic of questions.”
The Tories added: “Keir Starmer wrote to civil servants in July saying his Government would be one ‘of openness, of collaboration and transparency in everything we do’.
“Yet today it seems he has ordered his civil service spokesperson to keep quiet.
“What is he hiding?”
Covid rules at the time mandated that non-essential workers should stay at home. However, the book claimed that Sir Keir considered his acting coach so important that he designated her an essential worker.
The list of essential workers, however, was prescribed by the Government and did not include acting coaches.
In response to previous allegations he broke lockdown rules when enjoying a beer and curry with Labour Party staff during the pandemic, Sir Keir insisted: “People were entitled to expect that politicians would follow the same rules as everyone else.”
“The idea I would casually break those rules is wrong, and frankly I don’t believe those accusing me believe it themselves. They are just trying to feed cynicism to make the public believe all politicians are the same.
“I believe in honour, integrity and the principle that those who make the laws must follow them. And I believe politicians who undermine that principle undermine trust in politics, undermine our democracy and undermine Britain.”