UK Politics

3072 readers

110 users here now

General Discussion for politics in the UK.
Please don't post to both !uk_politics@feddit.uk and !unitedkingdom@feddit.uk .
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric politics, and should be either a link to a reputable news source for news, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread. (These things should be publicly discussed)

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

!ukpolitics@lemm.ee appears to have vanished! We can still see cached content from this link, but goodbye I guess! :'(

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

tom

GreatAlbatross

flamingos

Keir Starmer alleged to have broken rules over party donor’s gifts to wife (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 month ago by flamingos to c/uk_politics

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Keir Starmer is alleged to have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing for his wife from the Labour donor Waheed Alli.

The gifts to Victoria Starmer were not initially declared in the register of MPs’ interests, the Sunday Times reported.

Starmer approached the parliamentary authorities on Tuesday to make a late declaration after being given updated advice on what needed to be registered.

The donations reportedly covered the cost of a personal shopper, clothes and alterations for Lady Starmer before and after Labour’s election win in July.

MPs are required to register gifts and donations within 28 days.

The Tories have demanded a full investigation into the Starmers’ links with Lord Alli, who has donated £500,000 to Labour since 2020.
[…]
Last weekend it emerged that Alli had been given a Downing Street security pass temporarily without apparently having a government role.

The row was dubbed the “passes for glasses” affair because the television mogul had previously donated tens of thousands of pounds worth of clothing, accommodation and “multiple pairs” of spectacles to the Labour leader. There is no suggestion that the peer has broken any rules.

Alli, 59, was the youngest member of the House of Lords when he was ennobled in 1998.

all 10 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] stsquad@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago

In other reporting it did seem he was proactive in contacting the parliamentary authorities once he received advice on the donations. The spouse situation is tricky because his wife isn't an elected official or even a political operative. However I doubt the donations would have been made of she doesn't sometimes appear with her husband on official occasions.

Also the pearl clutching by the Tories is hypocrisy of the highest order given some of the stuff their members got away with.

Still it's not a good look and hopefully the party officials are making sure other ministers are up-to-date on all declarations. You don't want this to be the start of a string of stories.

[–] HumanPenguin 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Alleged = self reported as soon as advised, it is a requirement.

Hardly an act of corruption. And considering, his wife is not in an elected position or working for the gov in any way. Hardly surprising, he was unsure of the requirement.

Tories are pretty fucking desperate to paint the Labour Party as no better than their own corruption.

Spose not surprising when they have little actually policy difference to attack.

[–] casmael@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago

Cool whatever. I’m much more interested in all the rubles collecting in Tory back pockets to be honest.

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Hilarious watching Lammy trying to defend this earlier today.

[–] Jackthelad@lemmy.world -2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I like how no one seems bothered that this guy is doing this purely to get access to the Prime Minister and the levers of government.

If this was happening under a Conservative government, you wouldn't hear the end of the screeching. Yet when it's a Labour government everyone is just like "yeah, I don't care".

Is it too much to ask for some consistency?

[–] mindlesscrollyparrot@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago

I mean, it did happen under a Conservative government, and Sunak defended his failure to declare an interest by saying that he wasn't privy to his wife's business interests.

It's quite possible that it's that very scandal that prompted Starmer to seek additional guidance.