‘Man of the people’ Keir Starmer has racked up £107,000 worth of freebies since becoming Labour leader, and now accountants are pushing for him to pay tax on them. Robert Salter, an accounting director at Blick Rothenberg argued that Starmer should pay tax on his freebie, putting it plainly: if these were gifts given to an ordinary worker, they’d be facing a tax bill of nearly £50,000. He said that despite HMRC having no rule that allows politicians to avoid paying tax on gifts, they are treated as exempt…
By convention the taxman counts gifts to MPs as personal gifts, which aren’t taxable. Gifts to a corporate employee in a work capacity would, on the other hand, be counted as a benefit and so taxed. It’s no surprise that Starmer being given work clothes like suits and glasses hasn’t gone down well with taxpayers and accountants alike. There’s no evidence that ‘Mr Fairness’ has paid any tax on the endless Alli gifts as he continues to live it large and prepare to hike taxes for the rest of us. One rule for him, yet again…
Every Labour-briefed media profile of Waheed Alli spins that he is basically a harmless pile of money committed to one aim: a Labour victory. Starmer has repeatedly said Lord Alli got nothing in return for his support…
But the most cursory check of Alli’s parliamentary record (something not done by gaggles of Lobby journalists) reveals that he has strident and marginal views on one of the most controversial foreign policy issues of the last few years: Syria. He boasted in a House of Lords debate:
“I have visited Syria on a number of occasions and held talks with President Assad on several.”
Alli made the comments at the height of the Syrian civil war. He was speaking as the Cameron government was blocked from bombing President Assad’s Syria – after the tyrant unleashed chemical weapons on his own people. Simultaneously, Lord Alli was urging the West against taking military action in response:
“What happens when and if the Assad Government are removed? What is left behind? From my experience, it is soldiers with guns but no paymaster… I have listened to the list of things that this action is not intended to do—the same list that the Prime Minister gave in the other place. But that has not been the mood music being played by this Government over recent months. It is that mood music that frightens us all and it should be turned down.”
The next day’s tight Commons vote against action weakened the UK’s relationship with the US and France, as well as diminishing its moral authority on the international stage. The UK was reduced to a lame duck on the issue of Assad’s murderous dictatorship. On the Labour side, Corbyn would have been very pleased with Lord Alli’s position…
What was Alli doing meeting with bloodthirsty dictator Bashar al Assad on multiple occasions? In what capacity did he make his visits to Syria? Will Keir Starmer disown Lord Alli’s position on the Assad Government? Has Lord Alli made any representations to the Labour leadership over Syria? The Alli donor scandal has just taken a very unsettling turn…
UPDATE: Tories call on Starmer to distance himself from Alli and his position on Assad’s Government. A Conservative spokesperson said:
“Not only does this revelation raise some serious questions about Lord Alli’s relationship with President Assad’s regime, it puts Keir Starmer’s judgement even further in doubt.
“Starmer should disown Lord Alli’s position on the Assad Government immediately.”
Last night, Guido revealed that Keir Starmer may have breached electoral law not once, but twice, all while enjoying Lord Alli’s swanky £18 million penthouse. Starmer’s nomination papers claim he lived in Holborn and St. Pancras, but we know he was holed up in Alli’s pad over in the Cities of London and Westminster. He claimed he moved so his son could study for his exams —though even those dates don’t add up. If true, this little arrangement wouldn’t be counted in Labour’s general election expenses… unless, of course, Starmer was using it for a bit of campaigning on the side…
Now others are starting to smell blood. On BBC Question Time, Reform UK’s chairman Zia Yusuf weighed in, saying:
“There is now news just hitting the wires a few hours ago that potentially the Prime Minister has breached electoral law by misstating where his residence was… he was talking about moving to Lord Alli’s apartment apparently because [of] his son but if you spend time there overnight potentially there is a case to be had.”
The sheer hypocrisy of Starmer, who berated the Tories for breaching Covid guidance and hammered them on declaring donations improperly is one thing that cannot be ignored. Though if Starmer broke electoral law, the position of the so-called “forensic lawyer” would be shakier than ever. Zia pressed Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds last night, asking, “if it is the case that Starmer breached electoral law, would you call on him to resign?” Nick didn’t have an answer…
The Starmers say they moved into Lord Alli’s £18 million penthouse in Soho on 29th May and ceased to use it on 13th July this year. They valued this period of use at a bargain £20,437.28. Starmer said this week:
“I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying”… “if you are putting to me Beth that I should have stayed in my Kentish Town home and disrupted my son’s GCSEs… then I think you should put that to me.”
This suggests Starmer was actively living in the penthouse for the entirety of the period – using it as his primary residence. This would have started just before nominations opened for the General Election on June 4th….
When in 2017 UKIP’s Paul Nuttall claimed on his nomination papers he lived at a house he hadn’t yet moved into, it was made clear that the address had to be the place where he was actually resident at the moment of nomination. Peter Stanyon, deputy chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, said: “The general provision will clearly be that it needs to be a factual statement made at the point the nomination was being submitted.” Starmer’s nomination paper claims he was living at an address in Holborn and St. Pancras on that day. But we now know he was at Alli’s penthouse is in the Cities of London and Westminster…
Nuttall was investigated by police. He managed to prove to them that he used his house regularly as a “base” in the campaign for the 2017 Stoke By-Election. Starmer has accidentally admitted that he lived in a different property to the one on his declaration – did he campaign from his Kentish Town house? Downing Street will have to say so…
In addition, Starmer’s stated explanation for his use of the donated penthouse is that he needed the accommodation for his son’s exams. In itself this would mean it is not subject to Labour’s national general election campaign expense. But it would be if he held any campaign meetings there, used the property for campaign purposes or did campaign work there…
It could also shift into the local expense in his capacity as an MP. There is no declaration of the donation during a regulated election period on Starmer’s Electoral Commission entries. Starmer’s period of residence at Lord Alli’s therefore may have breached electoral law. Twice…
Yesterday Guido revealed the PM filmed his 2021 Christmas Covid broadcast from Lord Alli’s £18 million Covent Garden penthouse. He urged people to work from home as he sat in someone else’s home…
Downing Street sought to calm the storm by saying no rules were broken – heard that one before – and it was a ‘one-off’ use of the place. One-off eh…
The Guardian wrote:
“No 10 said Starmer was completely confident he had broken no rules when in Alli’s flat. The clip was recorded for work purposes and it is understood he was only using the flat as a one-off.”
Unfortunately for Downing Street, exactly 37 minutes after their line was published Guido went to pixel with evidence that Starmer paid tribute to the Queen on the day of her death from the very same ‘one-off’ penthouse. Gone were the family photos – replaced with some dark urns and books including an Obama biography…
This is going to become untenable for Keir Starmer. The revelations about Lord Alli’s apartment have only just started…
A lot of people will be aware of the rules around gifts to MPs right now thanks to the coverage of Labour’s Cronygate scandal. They state:
“Members must register any gifts or benefits with a value of over £300 which they receive from a source outside the UK. They must also register multiple benefits from the same source if taken together these have a value of more than £300 in a calendar year.”
That includes “hospitality in the UK, including receptions, meals and accommodation.” Starmer used Lord Alli’s £18 million penthouse to produce a political message in 2021. That does not appear on the register of financial interests during the period.
It does appear for recent similar use of the penthouse this year: “Accommodation, value £20,437.28.” Why did Starmer not declare his previous use of the property?
Starmer’s team have made changes to the register this year following “advice” sought from authorities. They said they “believed we had been compliant, however, following further interrogation this month, we have declared further items.” If they want to clarify this, they had better do it fast…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
