Keir Starmer’s never-ending list of freebies is the gift that keeps on giving for opposition parties. Since becoming Labour leader in 2019, Starmer has managed to rack up an eye-watering £107,000 in gifts—the highest of any MP and more than double second-place Lucy Powell’s measly £40,000. Cue Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, sent out this morning to do some pre-conference damage control. He tried…
Speaking to a frosty Kay Burley on Sky News, Reynolds defended Starmer’s lavish perks, arguing that his boss is in a “high-pressure job” and deserves some downtime—like, say, attending Taylor Swift concerts, which Reynolds bizarrely described as “major cultural sporting events.” When Burley pressed him on Sue Gray’s hefty salary and Starmer’s growing list of gifts, all while pensioners are losing their winter fuel allowance, Reynolds reached for the classic Labour excuse: the “black hole in the public finances”. If in doubt, blame the deficit…
Meanwhile, Starmer claims that he had to accept posh box seats at football matches because security wouldn’t let him sit in the regular stands. Funny how that wasn’t an issue for Rishi…
Border Security Minister Angela Eagle had the morning round for the government. She deployed the ‘snark and spite’ strategy for dealing with questions about Starmer’s snowballing Passes for Glasses scandal…
Eagle decided to instantly snap when asked why Starmer shouldn’t buy his own glasses when he earns £166,000 a year, repeatedly saying: “Well why don’t you ask him.“ She added that she wasn’t “responsible for decisions the Prime Minister made” and doesn’t have an opinion. This comms strategy just gets better and better…
Stig Abell pressed the point:
“I’ll tell you why you might have an opinion because Angela Rayner had an opinion when Boris Johnson was getting money from donors. She tweeted: ‘What right does a man who complains he can’t live on £150,000 a year and asks Tory donors to fund his luxury wallpaper habit have to lecture someone trying to survive on £80 a week?’ that’s what Labour attacked Boris Johnson for doing.”
Eagle’s reply?
“OK you’ve had your rant.“
That’s sure to get the public on side…
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’…
Guido is old enough to remember Starmer having a field day over the Boris fake and invented “cash for curtains” saga. He was well versed on the parliamentary rules on declaring gifts from donors, lecturing the Prime Minister on the “very clear” rules:
“The prime minister will be aware that he’s required to declare any benefits that relate to his political activities, including loans or credit arrangements, within 28 days. He will also know any donation will be recorded in the minister’s interest, and under law, any donation of over £500 for a political party must be registered and declared.”
Meanwhile, Downing Street is keeping tight-lipped on whether Lord Alli—Labour donor caught up in the ‘party frock gate’ scandal and a previous recipient of a Downing Street pass—has been inside Number 10 for meetings, as some allege, as recently as last week. Do as I say, not as I do…
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”
Jeremy Hunt has taken the opportunity to force Reeves to answer questions on Labour’s crony appointment of Ian Corfield. The banker gave £20,000 to Labour politicians, including Reeves, and somehow scored a directorship in the Treasury. All before Corfield rowed back and stepped away from the job…
Hunt needled Reeves at Treasury Questions in the Commons: “Can she tell the House whether she told the Treasury permanent secretary that Ian Corfield had made a donation to her before she got him appointed as a director in the Treasury, yes or no?” Reeves replied that the donation “was declared over a year ago in the proper way and we answered all the question in the right way.” Not quite the spirit of the rules…
Hunt points out paragraph 7.1 of the Ministerial Code, which makes clear that “Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise.” Reeves hit back by attacking “the partying
at Downing Street” under the Tories. Not the deftest deflection…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
