Keir Starmer has been put under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner for potentially breaching the rules on earnings and gifts.
The Labour leader is being investigated under paragraph 14 of the parliamentary code of conduct, which covers the registration of their interests and being “open and frank” in declarations.
The commissioner’s webpage, which announced the investigations on Monday, lists two matters under investigation in relation to Sir Keir’s conduct.
The first refers to “the registration of interests under Category 1 of the Guide to the Rules”, which refers to MPs’ outside employment and earnings.
The second refers to “registration of interests under Category 3 of the Guide to the Rules”, which refers to gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources collected by MPs.
The Labour leader is one of three MPs currently under investigation by the standards commissioner. The other two are Andrew Bridgen, a Tory MP who is under investigation for alleged paid advocacy – or lobbying – as well as matters relating to his declaration of interests.
Another Conservative MP. Chris Philp is also being probed by the watchdog for improper use of his parliamentary email address.
It is unclear at this stage what Sir Keir’s standards investigation exactly relates to. He has previously registered significant outside earnings for legal work before becoming party leader.
Asked to respond to the news during a broadcast interview, Sir Keir said: “That’s an investigation that we’ll be responding to in due course.”
When he was asked what the investigation was about, he replied: “I’ll need to talk to my office about that, but we’ll be responding in due course.”
The Labour leader was asked whether the news had taken him by surprise, and responded: “No.”
Asked when he was made aware of the investigation, he replied: “All MPs are made aware of there any any concerns and my office is dealing with it and we’ll be replying in due course.”
He added that he was “Absolutely confident. There’s no problem here.”
Parliament’s register of interests appears to show that Sir Keir has logged some of his outside earnings and hospitality later than the 28-day deadline all MPs must stick to.
These six late entries include royalties from his books and tickets to football games, and have a total value of £3,303.01.
The opposition leader has in recent months strongly criticised Boris Johnson for rule-breaking during lockdown, gaining political ground over the issue.
Labour colleagues told the media that their boss was, in contrast to the prime minister, “Mr Rules” and highlighted that he was previously director of public prosecutions.
But the opposition leader last month received a questionnaire from Durham police over allegations he too broke lockdown laws while on the campaign trail there last year. Both that police investigation and the one launched by the parliamentary standards commissioner are yet to conclude.
Mr Johnson was meanwhile handed a £50 fixed penalty notice for breaching rules at Downing Street. He refused to resign, and also survived a no-confidence vote from his own MPs. Sir Keir has promised to resign if he is fined for any breach.
