Friday, 27 September 2024

Starmer, freebies and gifts

You can't escape from the negative media coverage about Starmer’s declarations of gifts and donations. I still think he is probably one of the least corrupt politicians we have in this country, but he’s still guilty of naivety if he thought the right-wing press would give him an easy ride over the things he listed in his register of interests. I don’t have much sympathy for him claiming that he was somehow forced to sit in Arsenal's director’s box over security issues. He could have bought a Sky Sports subscription and watched the matches live on TV. We all have to make small compromises. Is it really so essential to physically be at every game?

I thought this even before Harriet Harman suggested something similar. It's what most people would have done, and it would probably have saved him some money.

Also, it’s hard to believe he needed somebody to pay for his expensive suits (£16,000!) and glasses (£2,485!). I don’t think MPs or cabinet ministers get a clothing allowance but they do get plenty of other perks. They are relatively well paid and should be able to afford to buy their own clobber like everybody else. Starmer was paid about £200,000 a year when he was DPP and must have some savings even if he can’t manage to buy a suit out of his monthly earnings, close to £14,000 before tax.

I do have some sympathy for his son and the £20k ‘donation’ which Starmer put down as the value of the ‘gift’ of staying at Lord Alli’s flat in London while revising for his GCSEs. Journalists were camped outside the family home as the election campaign was underway and it was understandable that Starmer would want to protect his son. But surely a family member could have put him up?

His wife's clothing gifts are slightly different. She works for the NHS and it’s not reasonable to ask her to pay for a woman’s wardrobe of clothes fit to wear when meeting world leaders as part of her husband’s job. She can hardly shop at Primark or New Look for an outfit suitable for a state banquet.

However, I see Labour MPs struggling to defend it all and there’s far too much whataboutery from Labour supporters like this one:

This is fine until you remember the Tories were at it for 14 years and Labour has hardly started. And this one:

It may not be corrupt or dishonest until we discover that Lord Alli has asked the PM to do something for him. Then it looks suspicious. In any case, it's exactly the same mindset that Johnson and other senior Tories suffer from.

Last year it was reported that Starmer had received more gifts than all previous Labour leaders combined!:

We know the Tories under Johnson were corrupt, compromised and complicit but we voted for Labour and Starmer because we thought they were different, not just slightly less corrupt. It’s not good enough and the prime minister needs to get a grip - and some advisers who can tell him what looks bad before it gets into the newspapers. Labour has unnecessarily squandered most of the goodwill they started with and I’m sure they’ll regret not being ‘cleaner.’

I am not suggesting it wasn’t all properly declared and nobody is suggesting any quid pro quos - yet. But I’m disappointed in him and Angela Rayner as well. She’s stayed at Alli’s New York apartment for a ‘personal holiday’ and says donations have been "a feature of our politics for a very long time", with all MPs accepting gifts. That would be OK if you haven’t spent years calling out sleaze and corruption among senior Tories.

Most people pay for their own holidays - if they can afford one at all. Is it really too much to ask our leaders to do the same?

I’m also disappointed that Starmer and Yvette Cooper have immediately and decisively ruled out any prospect of a youth mobility scheme, an important ask by the EU, saying wrongly it would smack of a return to free movement. This is not true since visas are still needed.

She uses very carefully chosen words, saying the EU see it "in the context of free movement." What does that even mean?

I don’t know if it's all a ploy and a bargaining chip designed to force more out of the EU, but it just looks like Labour is carrying on where Frost and Johnson left off in 2020. They want to tear down unnecessary trade barriers, enjoy the benefits of the single market without the contributions or making the smallest concession. 

When will be cherry picking end?

Talks in Brussels should be over very quickly if the British side insists on offering nothing in return for special treatment.

All of this comes as Labour's pre-election lead has fallen to 4% and Reform announce they now have over 80,000 members. Farage's 'party' is beginning to organise to establish offices in most constituencies. 

I am disappointed, I never thought things would improve overnight if we got rid of the Tories, but I really expected better behaviour from Starmer and Labour. They will come to regret it sooner or later.

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