Keir Starmer took thousands of pounds from a millionaire Labour donor to pay for designer suits because the taxpayer doesn’t pick up the bill, the Foreign Secretary suggested.
David Lammy lamented that there was no public funding for the wardrobe of the Prime Minister, who is paid £166,000 a year, or his wife Victoria in the same way as there is for the US President and First Lady.
It came as the PM came under fire for allegedly breaking parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing, alterations, and a personal shopper for Lady Starmer from Waheed Alli.
The gifts were not initially mentioned in the register of MPs’ interests. The Sunday Times claimed that the Prime Minister sought the parliamentary authorities on Tuesday to make a late declaration after being given revised information on what needed to be recorded.
Lord Alli hit the headlines last month when it was revealed he contributed more than £18,000 towards Sir Keir’s suits and spectacles.
Appearing on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Lammy suggested the PM had been ‘transparent’.
Asked if he realised the situation would look ‘odd’ to voters, he replied, ‘I recognise that, but I also recognise that in our country there isn’t a budget for the PM’s clothes or his wife’s clothes.
‘In some countries, there is a substantial budget—I have just come back from America, where there is a substantial budget to ensure that the US President and the First Lady’s appearance can never be challenged.
That is not that case in our country. So it is the case that successive leaders of the opposition wanting to represent the country on an international stage and PMs have used donors to fund that budget; that is the truth of it.’
The US president receives a salary of around £305,000 (400,000 US dollars) and a £38,100 (50,000 dollar) expenses allowance, although there is no specific clothing budget.
But Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly told Sky News: ‘It’s absolutely legitimate that we point out the hypocrisy of someone who basically got his job by criticising others for what he’s now doing.’
Now, the Tory party has insisted on a thorough examination of the Starmers’ connections to well-known Labour contributor Lord Alli.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘It’s taken just 10 weeks for Keir Starmer to face an investigation for his conduct.
‘After facing allegations of cronyism and now apparent serious breaches of parliamentary rules, there must be a full investigation into the passes for glasses scandal.
‘No doubt the millions of vulnerable pensioners across the country who face choosing between heating and eating would jump at the chance for free clothes just to keep warm in the face of Labour’s cruel cut.’
The Sunday Times also revealed that the contributions paid for Lady Starmer’s clothing, alterations, and personal shopping before and after Labour won the July election.
Seeing as MPs have voted to remove the Winter Heating Allowance from some pensioners. Perhaps removing MPs expenses as a ‘cost-cutting’ endeavour so that it can be put back into the £22 billion ‘black hole’. After all, EVERYONE has to make sacrifices, including the Prime Minister and his cronies, don’t they? Of course, they do!
Reeves blocked the Treasury from outlining the workings of the £22 billion ‘black hole’, which suggests it didn’t exist. However, on the same day, she created an £8 billion deficit with the inflation-busting pay deals to doctors and railway workers. Also, when Lammy was Shadow Foreign Secretary, he demanded that the Tory government detail the arms licence to Israel but now he is refusing to publish them. Pot calling the kettle black. No wonder MPs are minted!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 