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'No action taken!' Met Police REJECTS demands for investigation into Starmer ‘breaking Covid rules’ by meeting voice coach

Priti Patel MP reacts to Keir Starmer’s plan to ‘push ahead’ with Chagos deal

GB News
James Saunders

By James Saunders


Published: 05/02/2025

- 07:45

Updated: 05/02/2025

- 20:57

Check out all today’s political coverage from GB News below

Additional reporting by George Bunn

Metropolitan Police sources have told GB News that no action will be taken over allegations that Sir Keir Starmer broke Covid lockdown rules in 2020 by meeting with a voice coach.

It comes as Kemi Badenoch has called for an investigation into whether a visit by Leonie Mellinger to Labour’s London headquarters on Christmas Eve in 2020 broke any Covid rules.


A spokesman for the Conservative leader said: "Keir Starmer said lawmakers can’t be lawbreakers. It’s almost unimaginable to disagree that [this] was a clear breach of the Covid rules."

A Met Police spokesman told GB News: "We can confirm we have received a report. The specific legislation that would be used by police forces dealing with alleged offences during Covid has a three-year deadline for initiating proceedings.

"As this alleged incident falls outside of this timeframe, no action will be taken."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said this afternoon that Leonie Mellinger was part of the "core team" at the party's Westminster headquarters, pointing to how "the rules stated you could go to work if required".

It comes as GB News understands Rachel Reeves was at party HQ in her role as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, alongside several TV crews to record Starmer's response to the Conservatives' Brexit deal.

He also brushed off Tory-led criticism of the "coaching" - branding it "desperate from the Tories who partied through lockdown".

Could Starmer be forced to resign? The FIVE steps that could leave the PM with no choice as calls grow louder

Five steps could force Sir Keir Starmer to resign if his position as Prime Minister became untenable.

It comes as Starmer's future looks increasingly uncertain, with public opinion souring after just six months in office.

From cutting the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners to sparking a revolt from farmers over the inheritance tax changes.

READ THE EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS FOR GB NEWS MEMBERS HERE.

Greens join Reform UK in outrage over local elections - 'Straight out of an authoritarian playbook'

\u200bGreen Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay slammed the decision

PA

The Green Party has joined Reform UK in expressing their outrage after it was confirmed nine councils were postponing their elections.

Co-Leader Adrian Ramsay MP said: "It’s hard to think of anything more anti-democratic than cancelling elections ahead of a significant change in local democracy. It’s straight out of an authoritarian playbook. How can the Government claim an electoral mandate for these major changes if those most impacted see their elections cancelled?

"The Green Party is urging the Government to protect democracy, allow these long-planned elections to take place and get around the table with elected representatives of all parties to discuss how to make devolution work for people in local areas across the country.

"We want decisions closest to where they have the greatest impact with significant devolution of powers and funding from Westminster.

"That is the way to keep the vital connection between the politicians making decisions and those affected by them and avoid further alienation from the political process. The imposition of huge, remote councils against the will of local people would fly in the face of local democracy."

Majority of voters think Labour's policy on immigration is 'not strict enough'

A new poll has revealed a majority of voters think Labour's stance on immigration is "not strict enough."

The poll by YouGov asked 4875 voters if they thought the Labour government's policy on immigration was too strict, not strict enough or about right.

It showed 56 per cent of voters overall found the policy was "not strict enough" compared to 85 per cent for Conservative voters, 38 per cent for Labour voters, 98 per cent for Reform UK voters and 45 per cent for Liberal Democrat voters.

Starmer says Palestinians ‘must be allowed home’ following Trump comments

Sir Keir Starmer has said Palestinians "must be allowed home" after Donald Trump suggested the US could take ownership of the Gaza Strip.

The Prime Minister told the Commons that Palestinians "must be allowed to rebuild and we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution."

His comments come after the US president suggested they could create the "Riviera of the Middle East" and said he does not "think people should be going back" to Gaza, which led to accusations of "ethnic cleansing."

Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer said: “I have from the last few weeks, two images fixed in my mind: the first is the image of Emily Damari reunited with her mother, which I found extremely moving.

"The second was the image of thousands of Palestinians walking – literally walking – through the rubble to try to find their homes and their communities in Gaza. They must be allowed home. They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution."

WATCH: Farage blasts ‘terrified’ Starmer after local elections AXED as Reform leader predicts tidal wave

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has launched a blistering attack on the "completely outrageous" decision by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to postpone local elections in nine councils.

Farage declared he is "bloomin' angry" that millions of Reform UK supporters are being "denied their vote" on May 1.

Many of the councils are located in counties that were projected to secure victory by Reform UK at local and national elections, such as Essex, which is home to two out of five of Reform's current elected MPs.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

Liberal Democrats issue scathing takedown of Chagos deal - 'Shambolic!'

The Liberal Democrats have slammed Labour's handling of the Chagos Islands deal as being "shambolic" adding that residents of the territory were being ignored.

The party's foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller MP said: "This entire process has been shambolic. Under this Labour Government, Chagossians are being ignored and Donald Trump seems to have the final say over the future of sovereign British territory.

"This deal seems so botched it feels like the Government is taking lessons from the Conservatives."

The Bicester and Woodstock MP added: "The confected consternation of the Conservatives is also bemusing, given it was their Foreign Secretary that first signalled the UK's intention to secure an agreement.

"People around the country will rightly be questioning why the Government seems to be willing to reportedly negotiate such significant payments to Mauritius upfront at a time when Winter Fuel Payments have been scrapped. The least the Government can do is give Members of Parliament a vote on whatever deal is secured with Mauritius."

Former Tory minister said withholding information on the Southport killings led to conspiracy theories

A Conservative former minister has pressed the Government to be more transparent, as he claimed withholding information on the Southport killings led to conspiracy theories.

Referring to Axel Rudakubana’s possession of a terrorist document, Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh said: "There is a suspicion that the reason why this information was not released within days is that there was a feeling in Government that this might inflame racial tensions, but unfortunately this lack of transparency simply fed conspiracy theories.

"So will the minister confirm that ministers did take a conscious decision not to reveal this information, and have they learnt the lesson? In the future can we be completely transparent when such an outrage occurs, which we all hope will never happen again."

Security minister Dan Jarvis replied: "Ministers did everything mindful of the absolute need to avoid contempt of court and interfering with ongoing legal proceedings."

Swinney SLAMS Trump's comments about US takeover of Gaza - 'Completely unacceptable'

John Swinney has condemned suggestions from Donald Trump that the US could take ownership of the Gaza Strip as "completely unacceptable."

It comes after the President told reporters during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the land could be turned into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

The Scottish First Minister said: "I can’t any way, shape or form agree with what President Trump said last night. The solution to the Middle East problem is a two-state solution which involves recognising a sovereign, independent Palestinian state, including Gaza.

"That is what should happen, and the people of Gaza have suffered extraordinarily and we now need to help them and work with them to rebuild their lives and their communities and their society within Gaza."

Labour backbenchers who rebelled against two-child benefit cap given back the whip

Rebecca Long-Bailey

Salford MP and former Shadow Education Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has been given the whip back

PA

Four Labour MPs who were suspended for voting against the Government on the two-child benefit cap have had the whip restored.

Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Rebecca Long-Bailey were among seven Labour MPs who were suspended from the parliamentary party in July for backing an SNP-led amendment to scrap the cap.

It is understood that the whip remains suspended for the other three MPs, but it will be reviewed again in the future.

The remaining three MPs are former shadow chancellor and Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell, Poplar and Limehouse MP Apsna Begum, and Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana. All three will remain sitting as Independents.

Rayner's new authorities branded 'Orwellian-sounding pawns for a socialist agenda' in furious Tory blowback

Angela Rayner's rollout of election postponements has been branded an "Orwellian-sounding" system and part of Labour's "socialist agenda" by her furious shadow counterpart.

Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake told the Commons: "Contrary to the Deputy Prime Minister's statement, she is not doing away with a two-tier system... She is simply creating a new tier of Orwellian-sounding, strategic authorities which are closer to her and closer to Whitehall.

"These are for her to use as a pawn to implement this Government's deeply unpopular socialist agenda. The reality is that this is delegation, not devolution. Not devolution but a clear centralisation."

Hollinrake also warned that Rayner had "no electoral mandate for this huge upheaval", adding: "How exactly does it put more money in people's pockets, as she claims? What evidence has she got that it will mean lower bills for taxpayers?"

"What support will she be giving to authorities faced with eyewatering levels of debt? And will this debt be written off?" he added.

Rayner said that her plans were part of a "once-in-a-generation project", adding: "We've put £69billion - a real 6.8 per cent cash terms increase - into local authorities."

Nigel Farage outraged as council overhaul leaves MILLIONS without a vote - 'Collusion to stave off the threat of Reform UK!'

Farage/Rayner

Some five million Britons are now set to lose their votes this year

PA

Nigel Farage has been left furious after Angela Rayner pushed through controversial plans to postpone council elections across the country.

Rayner told the Commons today: "I've agreed to postpone local elections in East Sussex, and West Sussex, Essex, and Thurrock, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight, and Norfolk, and Suffolk.

"I've also agreed for the postponement in Surrey, given the urgency of creating sustainable new unitary structures and to unlock devolution for this area.

"We are postponing elections for one year - from May 2025 to May 2026."

Some five million Britons are now set to lose their votes this year - sparking outrage from the Reform UK leader.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Earlier at PMQs: Kemi Badenoch rages at Keir Starmer's 'immoral surrender' of Chagos Islands - 'That money belongs to our children!'

Kemi Badenoch has launched a scathing attack on Labour's Chagos Islands surrender following reports the giveaway is set to cost taxpayers as much as £18billion.

The Tory leader started her PMQs attack with the line: "When Labour negotiates, we all lose," before branding the giveaway an "immoral surrender" done so "north London lawyers can boast at dinner parties".

Badenoch also warned that the 11-figure fee set to be handed to Mauritius is "money which belongs to our children".

But Starmer hit back - and has accused the Leader of the Opposition of failing to ask for a single national security briefing on the surrender.

He said: "This is a military base that is vital to our national security... a number of years ago, the legal certainty of that base was thrown into doubt - and let me be clear: without legal certainty. the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should.

"That is bad for our national security and it is a gift to our adversaries."

The Foreign Office maintains that the £18billion figure is "incorrect, entirely inaccurate and misleading".

"There has been no change to the terms of extension in the treaty," the department said yesterday. "The UK will only sign a deal that is in our national interest."

Trump could punish Britain for Chagos debacle, Farage warns

Nigel Farage has said there is "no legal basis on which we have to give away the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands" in an urgent call to Labour to axe its deal with Mauritius.

The Reform UK leader also warned that pushing ahead with the controversial deal could see Britain being lumped in with the EU and punished with tariffs by Donald Trump's US.

Farage said: "When the Americans wake up to the fact that this has been done wholly unnecessarily, I wouldn't be surprised if we find ourselves together with the European Union in their tariff regime.

"Can the minister confirm there is no binding legal basis for this transfer of sovereignty whatsoever?"

But Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty rejected his remarks, and said the Diego Garcia base will be protected "long into the future" under the new agreement.

He told MPs: "We will not scrimp on the security of that base, the solidity of the agreements around it and ensuring that it is in operation well into the next century, and that we are able to operate unimpeded as we do today."

WATCH: Hysterical Labour MPs attempt to shout down Nigel Farage at PMQs as Reform UK leaves party 'panicking'

Farage locks horns with Labour over Chagos surrender - but MPs won't get chance to debate deal until AFTER its signature

Farage/Doughty/Chagos

Nigel Farage has locked horns with Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty in an urgent question over Labour's impending Chagos surrender

PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV

Nigel Farage has locked horns with Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty in an urgent question over Labour's impending surrender of the Chagos Islands.

The Reform UK leader was told that "both sides" are committed to a deal on the islands - which "protects the long-term future of Diego Garcia", which is home to a joint UK-US military base.

Doughty said Britain was "committed to securing the long-term future of the base" and was "closely engaging with the US" - but warned that it would "not be appropriate to give a running commentary" on the negotiations.

He also confirmed that MPs will only get a chance to debate the deal once it is presented to the Commons in Bill form.

Christopher Hope: 'Worried' Labour begins to turn fire on Reform

GB News' Political Editor Christopher Hope has suggested John Slinger's question to the Prime Minister on Reform UK's plans for the NHS was a "planted question" designed to set Labour's sights on Nigel Farage's party.

Chopper says: "Very interesting to see a probable planted question from a Labour MP to Sir Keir Starmer about Nigel Farage at PMQs, allowing the PM to attack the Reform leader in reply.

"It was the first one I can remember - and suggests Labour is worried about Reform surging in the polls.

"Now Labour MPs are trying to shout Nigel Farage down in the chamber in PMQs as he asks about the winter fuel allowance.

"The PM replies that Reform will charge people to use the NHS.

"Today feels like a moment when Labour started to turn its fire properly on Reform."

Starmer REFUSES to confirm he followed Covid rules with voice coach - 'I was working!'

Leonie Mellinger

Sir Keir Starmer has dodged questions on whether 'all rules were followed' when he hosted voice coach Leonie Mellinger at Labour HQ

GETTY

Sir Keir Starmer has dodged questions on whether "all rules were followed" when he hosted voice coach Leonie Mellinger at Labour HQ on Christmas Eve in 2020.

"I was working - they were partying," Starmer said in response to Tory MP Gagan Mohindra - but refused to elaborate on whether he followed the rules.

That prompted uproar, both in the Commons and online - "If Starmer bent or broke any lockdown rules, he must resign," Reform's Rupert Lowe said on social media.

Starmer accuses Badenoch of 'talking Britain down' as PM defends faltering Labour investment - 'Carping from the sidelines!'

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Kemi Badenoch of "talking our country down" over her attacks on Labour's investment record in the North Sea.

Plans to drill two oil fields had been thwarted by eco-campaigners at a Scottish court last week - prompting Badenoch to launch a fresh attack on Labour's investment record.

"Business is abandoning the North Sea because of his decisions," she said. "What signal does he think he is sending to investors?"

Starmer replied: "All she does is come here every week carping from the sidelines, talking our country down.

"We have got the highest investment for 19 years!"

Badenoch: 'Starmer bends the knee to anyone that asks him'

Kemi Badenoch has claimed that Sir Keir Starmer "bends the knee to anyone asks him" as she returned to an earlier question on the Rosebank oil and gas project which went unanswered.

After pressing the PM on the Chagos surrender earlier, Badenoch had warned: "When Labour negotiates we all lose.

"Sometimes they don’t even bother. Why did the Energy Secretary [Ed Miliband] withdraw Government lawyers from defending the case against the eco-nutters who want to obstruct Rosebank's oil and gas fields?"

And now, she has asked: "Did the Energy Secretary [Ed Miliband] refuse to defend UK interests because he is funded by billionaire eco-zealots?"

Starmer replied: "In relation to oil and gas it will be part of our energy supply for many years to come. We have been absolutely clear about that. But we are going through a transition."

PMQs underway - Starmer could face Chagos and voice coach grilling

PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV

Prime Minister's Questions has begun - and Sir Keir Starmer has paid tribute to Harvey Willgoose, the 15-year-old killed at school in Sheffield.

He could be probed on "voice coach-gate" as well as the Chagos surrender - and we'll be updating this page throughout PMQs with live updates as they come in.

Farage to bring urgent question to Commons on Chagos debacle - follow live

Farage

Nigel Farage will bring forth another question to Labour on the details of the Chagos Islands surrender

PARLIAMENTLIVE.TV

PMQs is just under 10 minutes away - but almost immediately afterwards, Nigel Farage will bring forth another question to Labour on the details of the Chagos Islands surrender.

But before then, the 14 MPs posing questions to Sir Keir Starmer today are:

  • Neil Hudson (Conservative)
  • Richard Tice (Reform UK)
  • Yasmin Qureshi (Labour)
  • Gagan Mohindra (Conservative)
  • James MacCleary (Lib Dem)
  • Calum Miller (Lib Dem)
  • Claire Young (Lib Dem)
  • John Slinger (Labour)
  • Dave Doogan (SNP)
  • Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance)
  • Patricia Ferguson (Labour)
  • Tony Vaughan (Labour)
  • Danny Chambers (Lib Dem)
  • Sarah Russell (Labour)

'Strategic DISASTER!' Reform UK tables letter to Lammy over Chagos surrender

Reform UK's five MPs have written to David Lammy demanding answers after reports emerged Britain would be paying £18billion to surrender British land to Mauritius.

The party laid into the Foreign Secretary for "ceding territory because of some obscure international court's non-legally binding judgement" - and has warned that the surrender is "a strategic disaster [which] should be reversed immediately".

Reform has also accused Lammy of "undermining the special relationship" with the US - as President Trump is said to oppose the giveaway.

And the party added that surrendering the archipelago without "proper scrutiny" from the Chagossian people is "undemocratic and unjust".

"Given that the residents of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands were both given a vote, [in] which they voted overwhelmingly to stay as a Briritsh Overseas Territory, over their future, why is the UK Government not allowing a similar vote?" the letter asks.

Now TORIES take the lead in national poll as Badenoch cruises past Farage and Starmer

Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives have leapfrogged Labour and Reform UK to top a national poll

PA

Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives have leapfrogged Labour and Reform UK to top a national poll - putting an end to two weeks trailing behind Nigel Farage's party.

Pollsters at More In Common have found that 26 per cent of Britons would vote for the Tories if a General Election were held tomorrow - two percentage points more than their previous survey.

Labour and Reform are now tied at second place, with both parties losing one percentage point to sit at 24 points each.

Streeting takes aim at 'daft' NHS diversity schemes in blistering anti-DEI attack - 'The ideological hobby horses need to go!'

Wes Streeting

Equality 'has been lost' in favour of 'misguided' DEI schemes, Wes Streeting has warned

PA

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that "really daft things are being done in the name of equality, diversity and inclusion" in the NHS in the highest-profile Labour attack on DEI yet.

He told a Macmillan Cancer Support event that said "daft things" were "undermining the cause" - and pointed to real-world disparities like black men suffering with prostate cancer at at twice as high a risk as white men, and black women being much more likely to die in childbirth than white women.

"For example, there was one member of NHS staff who was merrily tweeting a job ad online and saying part of her practice was anti-whiteness," he said.

"And I just thought: 'What the hell does that say to the bloke up in Wigan who's more likely to die earlier than his more affluent white counterpart down in London?'

"We've got real issues of inequality that affect working-class people. The ideological hobby horses need to go."

"What’s been lost, I think, with some well-meaning but misguided approaches to equality, diversity, inclusion, the clue is in the name, is equality. It should be applicable to everyone."

Labour doubles down on denying Chagos figures as Starmer faces Government rebellion over strategic surrender

Labour has doubled down on its denial of the rumoured £18billion total fee to give away the Chagos Islands this morning.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed told Sky News the figure was "not correct" and urged Britons to "wait and see" - while the Foreign Office has called the figures "incorrect, entirely inaccurate and misleading".

"There has been no change to the terms of extension in the treaty," the department said yesterday. "The UK will only sign a deal that is in our national interest."

It also emerged on Wednesday that senior Government figures had called the surrender "terrible", "mad" and "impossible to understand".

"At a time when there is no money, how can we spend billions of pounds to give something away?", one senior Government source said.

This morning, Reed said: "We have to secure the future of that military base. It's in a very important strategic location globally.

"It's not just the UK, of course, that has an interest here. So does the US, and the Government is making sure that we hear the views of the US before we take a final decision.

"We need to wait and see what the final outcome of those negotiations are... but I can confirm those rather extraordinary figures we heard being banded around yesterday are not correct."

Labour to confirm 'election cancellations' TODAY after Reform UK's 'threat to democracy' warnings

Labour is set to confirm which local authorities will have their elections delayed in the Commons today amid a series of "threat to democracy" warnings from Reform UK.

The Government will be pressing ahead with plans to merge district and county councils - but Nigel Farage's party has long decried the move on the grounds that Tory councils under threat from Reform will choose to postpone potential electoral defeats.

"Labour and the Tories are so terrified of Reform's rise that they are colluding to rob the British people of their democratic rights," the party has warned.

Some 21 county councils were due to hold elections in May, but of those, 16 have asked to delay them for "major restructuring".

Rayner's Islamophobia council slapped down AGAIN in further blowback for Deputy PM - 'Look into the real issues!'

Angela Rayner

Angela Rayner's controversial Islamophobia council plans have been met with further fury today

GETTY

Angela Rayner's controversial Islamophobia council plans have been met with further fury today in the latest blowback for the Deputy Prime Minister.

Khalid Mahmood, a Muslim former Labour MP who sat in the Commons for two decades, has warned that the council will be set up "simply to wave it through" - and has told the Government to "look into the real issues that British Muslims face instead".

"I don't agree with the 2018 APPG definition of Islamophobia and with Dominic Grieve as chair, this council seems to be set up simply to wave it through," Mahmood said.

"If the Government really wants to tackle discrimination, the council must look into the real issues that British Muslims face instead of just blindly accepting the 2018 APPG report."

While anti-Islamophobia campaigner Fiyaz Mughal called the council - plans for which were revealed by The Telegraph on Tuesday - "classic Labour interventionism".

"This is classic Labour interventionism - and if the Government does this, then why are they not finding a definition for anti-Sikh hate or Sikhophobia, which I know is of real concern to the British Sikh community.

"Is this a pick and mix approach, or does that community not matter to Labour politically?"

Yesterday, Robert Jenrick had warned that the group would pave the way for "blasphemy laws" - which Rayner's Communities Ministry has slapped down.

A spokesman said: "No blasphemy laws will be introduced by this Government.

"We are firmly committed to tackling all forms of hatred and division, including the unacceptable rise in anti-Muslim hatred. We will provide further updates on this in due course."

'International law activist' Hermer called Trump a 'brazen liar' - as Chagos showdown looms with US

Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer

Lord Hermer said Trump is 'perhaps the most brazen liar that one has ever kind of come across in a political position'

PA

Attorney General Lord Hermer - representing the UK in the Chagos surrender - called Donald Trump the "most brazen liar" in political history, according to a Telegraph report this morning.

Speaking on a podcast, Hermer said politicians had "always lied" - but the President's lying was "on a different scale".

"He's also perhaps the most brazen liar that one has ever kind of come across in a political position," the AG said.

"And he's obviously done it throughout his time in the administration from day one when he was talking about the crowds at the inauguration. And it certainly for me, I find it challenging."

Last week Downing Street was forced to put out a statement claiming the Prime Minister had "absolute confidence" in Lord Hermer after a selection of Ministers warned his "activist" preference for international law was "freezing" proper government.

And in light of his position on Chagos - just as strategic for the US as it is for the UK - Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: "At such a key moment for the UK-US relationship, Lord Hermer has jeopardised it with outrageous comments.

"When is Starmer going to stop defending his mate and donor and put the national interest first?

"This podcast reveals Hermer for what he really is: a politician using the law to advance his far-left political obsessions."

READ THE FULL STORY ON BRITAIN'S BALLOONING CHAGOS BILL HERE

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