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UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the new Labour government has no “transparency problem” after it emerged the prime minister had breached parliamentary rules by failing to declare clothes given to his wife by Labour Party colleague and donor Waheed Alli.
Millionaire businessman Alli has funded the purchase of clothes and tailoring for Sir Keir Starmer’s wife Victoria, according to people briefed on the move. The donation was first reported in The Sunday Times.
According to these people, the prime minister was initially advised when he took office that he did not need to declare the donation to his wife.
He checked again this week, on September 10, and determined that regulations required him to declare the donations and did so immediately, the people added.
“It’s not about transparency, he’s trying to be transparent,” Lammy told the BBC on Sunday.
“The truth is that successive prime ministers, unless you are a billionaire like the previous one, rely on donations, political donations, so that they can perform at their best, hopefully representing the country, if you are in opposition, or even as prime minister.”
Lammy added that he was not suggesting that Starmer was “poor”, but pointed to the fact that in the United States there is a specific budget for leaders and their family members to buy clothes to represent the American people well.
The issue has attracted particular scrutiny because Starmer has spent the past few years portraying himself as a stickler for the rules and vowing to root out all forms of factionalism and corruption from government.
It is unclear whether the parliamentary standards commissioner will investigate the late donation declaration to Starmer’s wife.
Alli, who has donated clothes to the prime minister and other Labour cabinet ministers, has faced accusations of cronyism after being given a Downing Street pass for weeks despite holding no official government post.
He is Starmer’s biggest individual donor, having given the prime minister work clothes and glasses worth more than £18,000, and paid £20,000 for accommodation costs during the campaign.
Over the past year, Alli has donated to four current cabinet ministers, including Lammy, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and education secretary Bridget Phillipson, as well as Starmer himself.
Home Secretary James Cleverly, who is currently in the running to become the next Conservative leader, said Starmer had been “really aggressive” in criticising the Conservatives for alleged cronyism and failing to adhere to parliamentary rules.
“I think it’s perfectly reasonable for us to point out the hypocrisy of someone who basically gets their job by criticising other people,” he told Sky on Sunday.
The House of Commons Code of Conduct states that members must register “any benefit given to a third party, regardless of whether the benefit confers any benefit on that person” as long as the benefit or donation is given as a result of that person’s membership in the House of Commons or their political activities.
A person briefed on the donation statement said the error occurred due to an “unfortunate combination” of questions from Starmer’s office not being specific enough and responses not “covering all aspects”.
“We truly believe that we have complied with the regulations that have been put in place,” they said.
Alli was made a lord by former prime minister Tony Blair in 1998, aged 34, becoming the youngest and first openly gay member of the House of Lords at the time.
