Sir Keir Starmer was given additional clothes valued at £16,000 from wealthy Labour peer Waheed Alli, which the Prime Minister declared as a donation to his private office, it was been revealed.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin during the CNBC (Image: PA)
The donations, consisting of two instalments of £10,000 in October 2023 and £6,000 the following February, bring the total value of clothing accepted by Sir Keir to £32,000 – not far below the average UK salary, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The most recent donations were at first described as being for the private office of the leader of the opposition, meaning they were not publicly known until now.
Sir Keir is believed to have consulted with the registrar of MPs’ interests and will reclassify the donations as clothing given in kind. His original declarations were made within the required timeframe.
Nevertheless, the latest disclosure is likely to reopen the debate over donations accepted by Starmer and other frontbenchers while they were in opposition – many from Mr Alli, a prominent media entrepreneur.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner (Image: Getty)
The PM has faced further questions for his decision to accept almost £2,400 for glasses, and for staying in an £18m penthouse during the election campaign, courtesy of Alli, in order to provide his son with a quiet place to say during his GCSEs.
Sir Keir has also faced criticism for taking luxury gifts, including thousands of pounds worth of football and concert tickets for Taylor Swift.
His wife, Victoria, as well as Labour heavyweights including Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Deputy PM Angela Rayner, have also received free clothes.
After a public backlash, all three have since said they will no longer accept clothing while in office.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty)
Labour has defended these donations, pointing out that all political parties, while in opposition, invest in the image and presentation of their candidates, including clothing, media training, and photography.
It was earlier this month revealed that the parliamentary standards watchdog would not be investigating Starmer’s previous failure to declare clothes donated to his wife by Alli.
Since becoming Labour leader, Sir Keir has accepted almost 40 free tickets, mostly to football matches, plus £4,000 in hospitality for a Taylor Swift concert and £698 for Coldplay tickets in Manchester.
During an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, host Nick Robinson said: “The principle that people are talking about is: ‘buy your own stuff.’”
Sir Keir Starmer attends the 79th United Nations General Assembly (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir said: “I won’t be making declarations in relation to clothing, again, understood.
“In relation to the second example you put to me, football, I’ve bought season tickets in the stand, and I’ve them had a long time, and I go with my boy, who’s 16.
“As a result of security, I can’t go in the stand, so Arsenal Football Club said, ‘Be our guest in the director’s box if and when you can get to a match.
“And that actually is a ticket you can’t buy. People say, ‘Well, why don’t you pay for it?’ You can’t buy a ticket in the director’s box, but it means I can continue to do something which is really special to me, which is to go to football with my boy.”
Questioned about stayed at Lord Alli’s property, he continued: “Let me just tell you what that was for. That was because at the beginning of the election, and we didn’t know when it’s going to be called, my boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs.
“I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school and do his exams without being disturbed.
“We had lots of journalists outside our house where we live. I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine. But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs, and it’s your one chance in life, I promised him we would move somewhere, we’d get out of that house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.
“Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that, and I took it up and it was the right thing to do for my book.”
SEE MORE :
Keir Starmer in fresh war of words with Elon Musk as billionaire issues warning over UK
Sir Keir Starmer has once again entered into a war of words with X boss Elon Musk, after the US billionaire claimed people shouldn’t go to the UK.
Elon Musk (Image: Getty)
Mr Musk said that people should avoid visiting Britain because Sir Keir is “releasing paedophiles to imprison people for social media posts”.
The furious accusation came after months of tweets criticising the Prime Minister as “two-tier Keir” during the summer racism riots.
Reacting to the claim, Sir Keir dismissed the allegation, arguing: “What he said is in stark contrast to the very strong view around the breakfast table this morning.”
The Prime Minister held a business roundtable breakfast meeting in New York on Thursday morning, as he aims to drum up investment into the UK.
He continued: “They described this morning’s meeting with the UK as the best of the meetings they’ve had this week at UNGA.
“That’s their words, not mine, that there’s really strong window of opportunity now with the UK, given the changes we’ve brought about, our number one mission on economic growth and to talk them through.”
Turning to Mr Musk specifically he said he would welcome investment into the UK by any of his businesses, despite the pair’s dire relationship.
The PM added: “Obviously, I encourage investment from anywhere, and so I don’t want to be misunderstood on this.
“So good investment into the UK is what I’m very, very keen to promote.
“It’s why I have this business. We had one here. But every time I’m abroad, every time on an international trip, we do these investment breakfasts, because I’m absolutely determined to get the investment that we need into the economy.”
The Prime Minister is hosting an investment summit in October, which he hopes will attract billions of pounds in inward funding for business.
However Mr Musk will not be present, having not been invited by the Government.
His claim that people shouldn’t visit the UK due to Sir Keir’s early release policy was sparked in response to him discovering the snub.
Yesterday the BBC reported that he was explicitly not invited by the Government because of his social media posts.
Mr Musk was invited to last year’s summit, but did not attend.
It is understood that a representative from Mr Musk’s company SpaceX has been invited, however.
The row is yet another blow to Mr Musk’s relationship with the UK government, which has worsened considerably since he was interviewed by Rishi Sunak in a fireside chat.
During the summer, Mr Musk claimed that “civil war is inevitable” following the breakdown in law and order.
