Sir Keir Starmer has personally written to Travelodge’s CEO and warned she must “seriously engage with MPs” over concerns about women’s safety.
The letter sent to Jo Boydell comes after a Berkshire hotel guest was sexually assaulted by a man who was wrongly given access to her room in 2022.
Attacker Kyran Smith, who had falsely claimed to be her partner, was jailed in February for seven and a half years, with the hotel forced to apologise for offering the victim £30 as compensation for what happened.
Travelodge has since acknowledged that the response was “inappropriate”.
Describing the attack in Maidenhead as “utterly appalling”, the prime minister has now told Ms Boydell that lessons must be learnt and that action must be taken to better protect guests.
His intervention is significant and comes a week after Ms Boydell refused an open meeting with MPs worried about Travelodge’s safety procedures.
In the wake of the incident, the hotel has made some immediate changes and is due to carry out an independent investigation into what happened.
Ms Boydell, after pressure from MPs, has also met with representatives of Sir Keir, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips. But she has refused to take questions from a larger group of MPs, leading to accusations of a lack of transparency and accountability.
What has the PM said?
“This is a personal mission for me,” the prime minister has written to Ms Boydell.
“No…
