PM’s £100,000 in tickets and gifts exceed freebies listed by other recent party leaders
Keir Starmer has declared more free tickets and gifts than other major party leaders in recent times, with his total now topping £100,000 after recent support for his lifestyle from the Labour donor Waheed Alli.
The prime minister has accepted almost 40 sets of free tickets in his time as the Labour leader, mostly to football matches but also £4,000 of hospitality at a Taylor Swift concert and £698 worth of Coldplay tickets in Manchester.
He has been criticised this week for the scale of gifts given to him by Lord Alli, who paid for work clothing worth £12,000, accommodation valued at more than £20,000 and glasses valued at £2,485 – especially since the donor was temporarily given a pass to No 10 briefly after the election.
Angela Eagle, a minister, struggled to defend the prime minister’s decision to accept so many freebies when pressed on Times Radio yesterday. Asked why he should not buy his own glasses, given his salary, Eagle said: “I’m afraid I’m not responsible for decisions the prime minister makes.”
She added: “The prime minister has had his say on that. And if you next time you interview him, you could ask him yourself. I don’t have an opinion.”
Starmer’s acceptance of freebies raised eyebrows after the Financial Times reported during the election that he had taken £76,000 worth of hospitality and gifts. Since then, he has declared another £4,000 in Taylor Swift tickets and £20,000 of accommodation from Alli. This was mostly provided during the election campaign but continued one week after he had become prime minister.
The Labour party declined to answer when pressed on whether Alli paid for Starmer’s hotel accommodation during the election or loaned one of his own properties as a base.
Starmer has previously insisted his acceptance of hospitality is related to his security requirements of not being able to go into the football stands, saying: “If I don’t accept a gift of hospitality, I can’t go to a game. You could say: ‘Well, bad luck.’ That’s why gifts have to be registered. But, you know, never going to an Arsenal game again because I can’t accept hospitality is pushing it a bit far.”
Other previous major party leaders have not declared so many free tickets and hospitality.
When David Cameron was opposition party leader, he declared one set of Rugby World Cup tickets, and being hosted at the Conservative party’s Black and White ball, along with gifts of hampers and other treats. He also registered £4,475 of discounted personal training sessions.
The value is difficult to quantify as the rules on declarations were tightened after 2010 but the volume of his registered freebies was far lower than those accepted by Starmer.
As the Labour leader from 2010 to 2015, Ed Miliband declared upgrades on a British Airways trip to South Africa worth up to £5,866 and Paralympics tickets of unknown value. After leaving his job as opposition leader he declared tickets to see the Boston Red Sox baseball team worth £2,607 in 2019, and £480 to attend the Lunar festival.
Jeremy Corbyn revealed he took Glastonbury tickets worth about £450 two years in a row for a family member but he otherwise did not accept hospitality as Labour leader from 2015 to 2020 – aside from a first edition book donated to a museum.
Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have less directly comparable declarations to Starmer as they each became prime minister as soon as taking over as party leader. Ministers are not forced to declare hospitality on their MP register that they receive in their official roles.
However, while he was prime minister, Johnson declared a £15,000 holiday from the donor David Ross, and a £12,000 party paid for by Brown’s Hotel. Johnson avoided stating the value of a free holiday from the ex-MP Zac Goldsmith on the basis it was provided in a personal capacity.
After leaving office, Johnson declared more than £100,000 worth of accommodation, mostly from Lord Anthony and Lady Carole Bamford. He also accepted a £4,000 bike from Nechirvan Idris Barzani, the head of Kurdistan’s regional government.
In the months after resigning as foreign secretary in 2018, he took two tickets with hospitality to a Test match at the Oval, worth £1,800.
Sunak has declared no personal hospitality, apart from honorary Carlton Club membership worth £2,595.
Truss had no hospitality as party leader, but before then, she declared just four gifts during her previous 10 years as an MP: Norwich City football match attendance worth £2,000, Wimbledon tickets worth £340, tickets to Porgy and Bess worth £400 and £1,104 in tickets to Newmarket races.
Theresa May as a shadow minister accepted Russell and Bromley shoes, and enjoyed hospitality at the Brit awards and Henley festival. In the month she left office she accepted tickets to watch a game at Lords.