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Sir Keir Starmer accepted £20,000 worth of accommodation to help his 16-year-old son study for his GCSEs, it has emerged.
The prime minister was asked by the BBC about a £20,437 donation from Labour peer Waheed Alli between May and July, confirming that the sum was for somewhere his son could study “peacefully”.
He told the broadcaster: “At the beginning of the election, which we didn’t know when it was going to be called, my boy was in the middle of his GCSEs.
“I made him a promise that he’ll be able to get to his school, do his exams without being disturbed.”
Sir Keir said there were “lots of journalists outside our house where we lived”.
And he added: “I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine, but if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs, your one chance in life, I promised him we’d move somewhere, we’d get out of that house, and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.
“Someone then offered me accommodation where we could do that, I took it up, and it was the right thing to do for my boy, it didn’t cost the taxpayer a penny.”
Asked if that was Lord Alli, Sir Keir says: “Yes, of course.
“But my primary concern wasn’t about influencing government, it was making sure my boy could do his GCSE’s without wading through loads of journalists outside the house.”
The admission threatens to reignite the row over Sir Keir’s relationship with Lord Alli, who has also gifted the prime minister, his wife and other Labour figures thousands of pounds of clothing and other gifts.
Sir Keir came under fire previously after it emerged Lord Alli had been handed a Downing Street pass, with the affair dubbed “passes for glasses” because the donations included “multiple pairs” of spectacles for the PM.
Asked whether he would like to apologise for the row, he told LBC: “I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.”
The Prime Minister also opened up about life inside Number 10 following Labour’s takeover in July.
“It has been tough for the kids. I’m not pleading a special case but they’re 16 and 13,” he said. “That’s a very important time.”
The row over declarations by MPs and senior ministers had threatened to overshadow the Labour conference, with criticism aimed at both the PM and his ministers for accepting luxury gifts from wealthy donors while announcing cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
Sir Keir has said ministers will no longer take donations for clothing now they are in Government, but left the door open to receiving more access to events, such as the £4,000 worth of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert he accepted from the Premier League.
Asked whether he would rule out accepting such gifts in the future, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I think that’s a matter of judgment. There has to be good reason.”
