No 10 has been trying to act nonchalant and keep Keir Starmer looking statesmanly as the row over freebies rages on. With increasingly buffoonish defensive lines…
Now Downing Street has briefed that Starmer has paid back over £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he received since becoming Prime Minister. That includes Taylor Swift tickets and free clothes for him and his wife…
£6,000 is a measly sum – exactly 5.5% of the £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality in his parliamentary register since December 2019. And that’s only what has been registered…
In interest terms there is no difference between Starmer taking freebies while PM and while leader of the opposition. Will he repay the full £107,000? What about his Cabinet Ministers? Starmer’s made it worse again…
In Henry Mance’s piece today for the FT, lunching with Nigel Farage:
“Splendido!” Farage says, when the drinks arrive; I suppose it’s a step to European reconciliation. We clink glasses, and he lights the first of two back-to-back Benson & Hedges. A few minutes later, we’re back downstairs. “Are you drinking? Good.” He orders a glass of Sauvignon blanc for each of us — not a bottle, “because it’s Lent” — followed by a bottle of claret, to have with our meal. They say Farage drinks less than he used to. They say a lot of things.”