Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer received an
additional £16,000 worth of clothes from Labour peer Lord Alli, it has emerged.
The donations, first reported by the Guardian, were initially declared as money for his private office as leader of the opposition.
The gifts – of £10,000 in October 2023 and £6,000 in February this year – were declared on time, but will now be re-categorised as donations in kind of clothing.
The re-categorisation comes after Downing Street sought advice over the donations.
Sir Keir has insisted he has always followed the rules.
The prime minister, along with his deputy Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, have said they will no longer accept donations of clothing.
Last week, Sir Keir told the BBC he had accepted the donation for clothing in opposition, during a “busy election campaign”.
“I won’t be making declarations in relation to clothing again, understood,” he said.
The controversy over donations has dogged Sir Keir’s government since Labour won its landslide general election victory in July.
Lord Alli, a regular donor to the Labour leader, has been at the centre of a row after it emerged in August he had been given a temporary Downing Street security pass despite having no formal government role.
The TV executive has separately donated £16,000 for clothing and £2,485 for multiple pairs of glasses to Sir Keir.
The PM has also defended accepting £20,000 worth of accommodation from Lord Alli during the election campaign so his son could revise for his GCSEs without the media outside his home.
The SNP has asked for an investigation into donations to the PM and Labour MPs by Lord Alli.
In a letter to the standards commissioners in the Commons and Lords, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests Sir Laurie Magnus and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, SNP MP Brendan O’Hara said the revelations have “become Sir Keir Starmer’s version of the expenses scandal”.
Mr O’Hara said that unless the matter was “comprehensively investigated” then it was “inevitable that the damaging drip, drip of revelations will continue to erode public trust”.
Rows over donations and freebies overshadowed the start of Labour’s annual conference last week.
The PM is far from the only MP to have received freebies over the past year.
Many current MPs from all parties across the Commons list free tickets to sporting and cultural events in their registers of interests.
Source: BBC
