I took freebies for my son, says Keir: PM blames teenager’s GCSEs for accepting £20,000 accommodation because he needed to study in ‘peace’
Keir Starmer has blamed his son’s GCSEs for taking £20,000 in donations for accommodation.
The PM insisted his teenager needed somewhere to study in peace while the family were under close scrutiny during the run-up to the election.
The property is reported to have been an £18million penthouse in the Covent Garden area of London, owned by Labour’s Lord Alli.
Sir Keir also left the door open to accepting more hospitality from donors in future, saying it was a matter of ‘judgement’ for MPs.
The premier has been accused of hypocrisy over gifts after Labour was highly critical of Boris Johnson and other Tories when they were in power.
But in a round of interviews after his speech to party conference last night, Sir Keir said he was ‘not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong’ and the freebies did not ‘cost the taxpayer a penny’.
Keir Starmer (pictured) has blamed his son’s GCSEs for taking £20,000 in donations for accommodation
He said the transition to Downing Street had been ‘really difficult’ for his two children, who were previously raised in North London.
Asked about the donations, Sir Keir said that around £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli for unspecified accommodation was for his teenager to study for exams in a ‘peaceful’ atmosphere while there was intense media attention in the run-up to the election.
‘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, do his exams, without being disturbed,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘We have lots of journalists outside our house where we live and 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, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.
‘Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that. I took that up and it was the right thing to do.’
Asked whether he would like to apologise for the row, he told LBC: ‘I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.’
According to the MP register of interests, the accommodation from Lord Alli was valued at £20,437.28 and Sir Keir accepted it between May 29 and July 13.
However, GCSEs were taking place between May 9 and June 19.
The PM also opened up about life inside Number 10 following Labour’s takeover in July.
Asked about the donations, Sir Keir said that around £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli (pictured) for unspecified accommodation was for his teenager to study for exams in a ‘peaceful’ atmosphere
‘It has been tough for the kids. I’m not pleading a special case but they’re 16 and 13,’ he said. ‘That’s a very important time.’
The row over declarations by MPs and senior ministers had threatened to overshadow the Labour conference, with criticism aimed at both the PM and his ministers for accepting luxury gifts from wealthy donors while announcing cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
Sir Keir has said ministers will no longer take donations for clothing now they are in Government, but left the door open to receiving more access to events, such as the £4,000 worth of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert he accepted from the Premier League.
Asked whether he would rule out accepting such gifts in the future, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘I think that’s a matter of judgment. There has to be good reason.’
