Is history repeating itself in the row over Sir Keir Starmer’s voice coach Leonie Mellinger?
After all, she is not the first person who has coached a prime minister to be caught in political controversy.
After the Tories demanded a police probe, are there echoes of the row over Tony and Cherie Blair’s “lifestyle coach” Carole Caplin?
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir defended meeting Ms Mellinger during lockdown in 2020, claiming “I was working” while the Tories were “partying”.
The Conservatives then stepped up their attacks, announcing that leader Kemi Badenoch wants a police investigation into whether laws were broken.
That is not going to happen, however. The Metropolitan Police said that because the alleged offence was more than three years ago, no action will be taken.
But have we been here before with a political row about a Labour prime minister receiving specialist coaching?
In the 1990s, before and after he became PM, Ms Caplin coached Sir Tony and wife Cherie, advising him on fitness and his wife on style.
And so, as the Tories continue attempting to embarrass Sir Keir over “Voice Coach Gate”, are there similarities between his voice coach and Ms Caplin?
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Earlier on Wednesday – PMQs
It has been suggested, for instance, that both have a racy past. Now 65, Ms Mellinger, an actress, was once married to the star of the “Confessions…” movies, Robin Asquith.
In her acting career, she appeared in Channel 4’s political comedy The New Statesman as the leather-clad wife of a Conservative MP.
She also…
