Labour peer and former minister Margaret Hodge is frontrunner to take over Ofcom as chairman, replacing Lord Grade whose term ended in April. Hodge has a closer past relationship with the Starmer family than many SW1 watchers will realise…
Previously unreported is her relationship to the Starmers. After qualifying as a solicitor in 2001 Lady Starmer worked for the law firm Hodge Jones & Allen while Hodge was a minister. The firm, founded in 1977 by the late Henry Hodge (late husband of Margaret), boasts a “strong set of ethical values that permeate throughout the firm.” Guido hopes that proximity got declared…
Hodge is anti-online anonymity and has a chequered record on online safety. She is 81 years old – Labour thinks she’s right for this huge role despite forcing 80-year-old peers out of the House of Lords…
Former Tory Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright is also in the running and has made criticisms of Ofcom for its execution of the Online Safety Act. The regulator has erected Starmer’s internet firewall with no brakes…
Starmer’s first few months have been more than a little bumpy on the home front. After it emerged that his wife, Lady Vic, had received thousands of pounds worth of clothes from Labour’s human ATM, Lord Alli, she doubled down – making a bold debut at London fashion week on 16 September. On 24th September she wore a £1,105 designed dress by Edeline Lee at Labour conference in Liverpool – flanked by her husband. Just days earlier, on 14th September, she had been spotted with Starmer at Doncaster racecourse. It looked like high profile days out in designer clobber would be Lady Vic’s vibe in Downing Street…
But where has she been since? Multiple Labour insiders are raising the question – with regular visitors to Downing Street noting her absence. She’s absent from the wires – which were becoming dominated by snaps of Lady Vic. Downing Street snappers haven’t seen her moving around the area. And Number 10’s own social media channels show no trace. As one bemused Labour wag, almost certainly joking, puts it: “she hasn’t left him, has she!”…
Lady Victoria Sponger is swanning around in luxury dresses again, this time a £1,105 designer dress from her new favourite brand Edeline Lee. The ongoing Labour donations scandal hasn’t stopped her from dressing to impress…
Lady in red…
Party frock gate continues to rumble on as Lady Vic splashes the front pages donning her designer dress and, as Guido first reported, a £1,200 jacket at a fashion week show. Remember when she used to the be the ‘Cut Out Woman’?
One co-conspirator in the high-end British fashion scene tells Guido that Mrs. Sunak had been a customer on several occasions when Rishi was Prime Minister. Despite the industry’s usual schmoozing, she “never once” accepted a gift or discount—always paying full whack. It’s no coincidence either; it was under “strict instructions” to avoid any freebies or favours. So much for Starmer being ‘Mr. Integrity’…
The Conservatives have written to the Standards Commissioner, calling for a full investigation into Keir Starmer’s failure to disclose donations from Lord Waheed Alli. This comes after it emerged Starmer failed to declare the fact Alli footed the £5,000 bill for Starmer’s wife, Lady Vic, to indulge in a personal shopper and have her dresses and clothes altered. Potentially a serious breach of parliamentary rules…
Starmer, who previously reminded the Tories in 2021 of the need to declare donations within 28 days, now stands accused of not practicing what he preached. So much for his claims of governing with integrity, honesty, and promising to “clean up” politics…
Read the letter, written by a Conservative MP below: Continue reading “Tories Write to Standards Commissioner Over Party Frock Gate”
Labour’s flagship measure to add VAT to private school fees – leading to a 20% hike in fees for parents, pressuring aspirational families – has been repeatedly defended by Keir Starmer on the campaign. Guido revealed evidence that Labour’s hatred of independent schools runs deep…
Now newly uncovered minutes from governors’ meetings at Eleanor Palmer Primary School – which was attended by both of Starmer’s children – reveal that Lady Victoria Starmer lobbied hard against proposals to encourage affluent parents in the catchment area to make voluntary donations to help fund additional opportunities such as music, art and sport. ‘Lady Vic’ was a governor at Eleanor Palmer from 2015 to 2019 – and as with all schools, the minutes are public. In 2013 the school – one of the ‘best’ state primaries in the country – received media coverage for its tiny catchment area – just 167 metres, or the same length as Roman Abramovich’s yacht…
In January 2019, the school’s headteacher told the quarterly meeting of governors that the school was facing a funding deficit for the year ahead. Suggestions from some at the meeting that more affluent parents be asked to make voluntary donations were shot down by Victoria Starmer:
‘Governors questioned whether it was now time to look at asking for covenants from parents. There were a number of affluent parents in every year group, some of whom had expressed a willingness to give money to the school. Flora Cornish and Vicky Starmer said that they had concerns around inclusivity and requests for donations and covenants. Flora Cornish expressed unease about any ideas of entitlement that may sit alongside covenants.’
‘Lady Vic’ went further:
‘Vicky Starmer asked Governors to consider the feelings of families unable to donate money… Vicky Starmer said that some parents think that the school has a lot of money given the demographic and the apparent good resourcing. Vicky Starmer asked whether the school could work with other local schools regarding the funding crisis. The Head said that head teachers talk together about funding regularly. As Camden had historically been so well funded, the shift in funding was now marked, but most schools were working independently on fundraising…Vicky Starmer stressed that it should be clear that the funds were not for topping up the state budget for core curriculum and services. The Chair said that the school could not set a budget that did that.’
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”
