David Lammy took £10,000 from a PR executive with links to Saudi Arabia just months before becoming Foreign Secretary, it has been revealed.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy (Image: Getty)
Muddassar Ahmed provided the funds to support Mr Lammy’s office via Silk Road Consultancy, a company which has no employees and where Mr Ahmed serves as the sole director.
Silk Road Consultancy also have £10,000 to Shabana Mahmood MP, the Lord High Chancellor, prior to the general election.
Mr Ahmed, 41, who is also the managing partner of PR firm Unitas Communications, has previously voiced support for Saudi Arabia in blogs and articles.
In an article published in the Daily Express in 2016,, he criticised Boris Johnson, who had accused Saudi Arabia of “puppeteering” in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan (Image: Getty)
Mr Ahmed wrote: “What does he expect – a parliamentary democracy with a secular constitution ruling over the Muslim holy sites in Mecca and Medina?”
In July, Mr Ahmed addressed at the London Stock Exchange on a panel discussing “Saudi Arabia and religious pilgrimage”, focusing on enhancing the pilgrim experience.
Mr Ahmed has also lavished praised on Mr Lammy, commending him for seeking to “break free from the delusions of grandeur of yesteryear” and for embracing partnerships over “traditional, hypocritical lectures”.
He has also called for Sir Keir Starmer to reset Labour’s relationship with the Middle East, calling for Labour to should build bridges domestically and internationally with the input of high-profile Muslim politicians, businessmen, academics, and community leaders.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (Image: Getty)
Unitas Communications’ website lists clients such as the Islamic Development Bank, majority-owned by the Saudi government. However, Mr Ahmed told the Daily Telegraph this is was an error, stating: “The Islamic Development Bank is not, and has never been, a client of Unitas, nor has the Saudi government.”
He clarified that donations to Mr Lammy and Ms Mahmood were made personally, rather than through Unitas funds.
He added: “I have indeed criticised British foreign policy in the Middle East, as you noted, and spoke at an event at the London Stock Exchange on Hajj.
“We collaborated with the Bank on an event some years ago, but it is not currently or has ever been a client.”
Asked if he was planning to make further donations to Labour, Mr Ahmed replied: “Quite possibly.”
Mr Ahmed’s online CV shows he founded and chaired The Concordia Forum, which gathers senior leaders from government, business, and other sectors for an annual retreat.
In October 2023, The Concordia Network paid for Labour MP Afzal Khan’s flights, accommodation, and expenses, totalling £3,035.79, for him to speak at the event. Unitas also spent £2,380 on flights and accommodation for Ms Mahmood to attend.
In addition, the Register of Interests shows that Naz Shah MP, former shadow minister for crime reduction, was paid £5,000 by The Concordia Network for two speeches earlier in 2023.
Listed among London’s 1,000 most influential figures, Mr Ahmed has met the Prime Minister and Mr Lammy, and has been pictured with other prominent figures, including former Brazilian President Michel Temer and Hillary Clinton.
When asked about his views on Saudi Arabia, Mr Ahmed said: “What is happening in Saudi, in terms of the economic, political, religious, and social transformation, is remarkable. The implications for the Muslim world are enormous.”
Mr Lammy met Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in London last year. Mr Ahmed has previously criticised the Conservative Party for Islamophobia and double standards.
Express.co.uk has approached Mr Lammy via his Parliamentary Office, as well as the FDCO and Mr Ahmed via Silk Road Consultancy.
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Now Rachel Reeves admits she got £7.5k of free clothes too
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been caught up in Labour’s freebies row after it emerged that she accepted £7,500 towards the cost of clothes since the start of last year.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she will not accept such donations in the future (Image: Getty)
The Chancellor – who will no longer accept such donations – took the cash from a friend, Juliet Rosenfeld, to pay for worth clothing including suits.
While the donations were declared, the Chancellor did not explicitly state that the money was spent on clothing, prompting more questions about transparency in the wake of revelations about Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy, Angela Rayner.
Ms Reeves’ team has consulted parliamentary authorities and believes the declarations were in line with the rules, because the donations were in the form of money as opposed to direct gifts of clothing.
Nevertheless, the revelation comes at awkward time for the Government over donations accepted by senior figures.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir and Ms Rayner have also announced they will stop taking free clothing after calls from Labour MPs for the party leadership to do so.
The move comes after days of negative headlines about Sir Keir taking clothing and glasses funded by donations, including £16,200 in “work clothing” for himself and £5,000 in personal shopping for his wife from Labour peer Lord Alli.
The timing of this decision, just days before Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, indicates concerns within No 10 about the impact of this controversy on the government’s public image.
Despite initial attempts to downplay the issue, it seems that the party leadership has been forced to reconsider the appropriateness of such donations.
Angela Rayner arrives at Downing Street (Image: Getty)
While the decision currently only applies to clothing, other gifts – such as tickets to Arsenal games matches and concerts – remain a point of contention, with several Labour MPs calling for stricter rules across the board. Ms Reeves, Sir Keir, and Ms Rayner are now facing pressure from their own party to repay the donations they’ve received.
Sir Keir earlier this week sought to defend his decision to accept football freebies, insisting prevented him from sitting in his regular seat.
He said: “If I don’t accept hospitality, I can’t go to the game. You could say: ‘Well, bad luck.’ That’s why gifts have to be registered. But never going to an Arsenal game again because I can’t accept hospitality is pushing it a bit far.”
Party insiders are understood to be very angry about the ongoing row.
Speaking about the PM, one told the Daily Telegraph: “He should stop taking freebies immediately. It gives the impression that he’s more interested in himself than he is about the difficult situation facing the poorest in our country who we are supposed to represent.
“I don’t know of anyone who thinks this is a good idea. Friends and colleagues are mortified.” Baroness Harman, the former acting Labour leader, told Sky News: “I think doubling down and trying to justify it is… making things worse.”
She added: “He just needs to say, right, with hindsight, I’m going to do things differently and this is how I’m going to do it in future.”
Since the start of last year, Ms Reeves has received four donations, totalling £7,367, from Ms Rosenfeld, described by Ms Reeves’ team as a long-standing friend.
Ms Rosenfeld, a psychotherapist and author, is the widow of Andrew Rosenfeld, a multimillionaire businessman who died in 2015 at the age of 52 from cancer. He became a significant Labour donor and lent £1 million to Tony Blair’s party before the 2005 general election.
