If Labour wins the next election, Keir Starmer may have to give evidence as prime minister about his past.  Awkwardly he may have to face his close former Doughty Street chambers colleague at a long-running public inquiry into the police.  The Labour leader has been urged to give evidence to the Undercover Policing Inquiry, which is examining the activities of the Special Demonstration Squad and National Public Order Intelligence Unit – so-called “spy cops” – since 1968.

The inquiry was set up by Theresa May while Home Secretary in 2015 to investigate how more than 100 secret police officers targeted individuals and groups linked to political and social justice campaigns. Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013. A group of 18 environmental campaigners want him to answer questions over whether he helped to conceal how some spy cops caused the wrongful prosecutions of activists.

Starmer’s former chambers colleague, Maya Sikand KC, is representing ex-spy cop turned whistle blower Peter Francis. His revelations, which include claims that undercover police spied on the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, triggered the inquiry.

In an embarrassing twist, another of Starmer’s ex-girlfriends, Phillipa Kaufmann KC, with whom he lived between 1997 and 2001, is also representing alleged victims at the Undercover Policing Inquiry. The inquiry, which was only expected to last three years, has gone on for almost a decade so far costing taxpayers £82 million. The inquiry has revealed that law enforcement officers were improperly having illicit sexual relations whilst on the job.

The FT has dug into the numbers this morning and found that, despite Labour squawking about government use of consultants and promising “tough new rules” to restrict it, the party has massively increased its own work with companies. Labour got £287,000 in donations of staff time from consultancies in the year to September 2023, which is up four times from only £72,000 in 12 months before. Corbyn used no consultants at all from 2016-2020, presumably because he already had all the answers and won on all the arguments…

The biggest contribution of hours came from EY UK which provided £138,000-worth. Readers might remember Rachel Reeves using her party conference speech in October to say Labour “will slash government consultancy spending, which has almost quadrupled in just six years”. It looks like Keir’s one-upped her…

If there’s at least one thing Starmer can learn from Liz Truss, it’s to never underestimate the regional media round. This morning on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, the Labour leader claimed that Labour’s parliamentary candidate Hamish Falconer had secured a £300 million investment for the redevelopment of RAF Scampton, intended for the construction of homes, restaurants, and bars. Starmer claimed Falconer had “negotiated” the private investment himself. In reality, the £300 million was actually secured by the then Conservative-led West Lindsey District Council…

He was quickly rebuffed by the presenter:

“Hang on, no he hasn’t. No, let’s correct that straightaway. The £300 million was already on the table. It was actually secured by the then Conservative West Lindsey District Council, they came to that arrangement that was announced months ago. So it’s not your candidate that secure that.”

The man who wants to ‘restore trust in politics’…

Gove-ian rhetoric has reached new heights at Tory Conference as the Levelling Up minister called Keir Starmer “the jellyfish of British politics: he’s transparent, spineless, and swept along by the tide”. Guido notes the nautical theme among Tory seniors after Mordaunt called Starmer “Beach Ken”…

Labour repaid £100,000 to Davide Serra yesterday; a donor accused of sexual harassment. The high-flying City financier is accused of making “wholly inappropriate” comments about the size of a female colleague’s breasts. He also allegedly suggested that his head of business development and investor relations, Jolanda Niccolini, would do anything for her clients – ‘including prostitute herself’. Unsurprisingly, this led to Ms. Niccolini taking legal action, resulting in a tribunal judge ordering Mr. Serra’s firm to part with £32,000 in compensation.

Labour’s discomfort didn’t end there yesterday, as another donor, Dale Vince, decided to take his philanthropy to the streets. He joined an eco-protest in London with his well-funded group, Just Stop Oil raising suspicions that he may have had some influence on Sir Keir’s promise to halt North Sea oil and gas exploration. Stay tuned for the next donor drama…