Electoral Dysfunction: Sir Keir Starmer should watch football on TV to end donations row, Baroness Harriet Harman says! B
Baroness Harman was a Labour MP up until the last election, and is now a member of the House of Lords. Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for the volume of free tickets he has accepted and for sitting in the directors box.
Sir Keir Starmer should give up his current arrangements for watching football and instead watch on television, a former Labour MP and minister has said.
Baroness Harriet Harman, a host of the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast, has again criticised the prime minister and leader of her party for his actions in the ongoing freebies row.
Sir Keir has long held a season ticket to watch his chosen club, Arsenal, but since becoming prime minister, he has been sitting in the directors box.
The cost of these arrangements are not clear – with the prime minister saying you “can’t buy a ticket”.
Baroness Harman s aid: “I’m looking ahead into the future, and I’m thinking really it makes more sense for him to be watching the football on the telly with his son.
“And I think that saying I want to be there with my boy I think just… it’s a problem that I can see arising because of the government’s involvement with public policy in a situation where Arsenal are very much in the game of wanting or not wanting what the government’s going to do.”
Speaking to Sky News this week, the prime minister said he was invited into the box by the club and accepted the offer as it saves the taxpayer from paying for the extra security he would need if he sat in the general admission stands.
Sir Keir’s register of interests shows that he has been donated thousands of pounds worth of football tickets to watch Arsenal away games this year before becoming the country’s leader – although these were donated by the clubs hosting the Gunners.
Between 2019 and the last parliament, the Labour leader accepted more than £35,000 worth of free tickets.