Charlie Parsons, a TV producer and executive, made the donations between February 2023 and May 2024
Lord Alli’s former partner gave Labour £350,000 in the run-up to the election and previously donated to Sir Keir Starmer.
Charlie Parsons, a long-standing backer of Labour, gave the party £100,000 in February 2023, followed by a £250,000 donation a day after Rishi Sunak called the election in May this year.
Mr Parsons, a TV producer and executive, made the donations through his company based out of a townhouse owned by Lord Alli, the Labour peer at the centre of a row over donations.
The pair were long-term romantic partners and shared several properties together including a mansion in Kent where they have hosted Labour politicians. It is thought they split around a decade ago.
Lord Alli is under investigation from the House of Lords’ standards commissioner over potential breach of the code of conduct for alleged “non registration of interests”.
It is understood the investigation is not linked to donation or any of the recent headlines about Lord Alli.
Mr Parsons had not made any donations for several years but through his company, in 2019, he made five donations of £2,000 to two MPs and three constituency parties.
This included one donation to Holborn & St Pancras Constituency Labour Party where Sir Keir is MP.
Mr Parsons made another £105,000 worth of donations between September 2010 and November 2016, with £30,000 donated to Andy Burnham, and £75,000 donated to Owen Smith as a Labour leadership candidate.
Mr Parsons and Lord Alli are believed to remain close. They are both still trustees of the Charlie Parsons Foundation, a charity they set up in 2011.
Both the charity and Mr Parsons’s business have the registered office of a townhouse in Soho bought by Lord Alli for £4 million in September 2020.
The same property is said to have been used by Labour for election strategy meetings and by Sir Keir’s senior aides and shadow ministers, including Pat McFadden, as well as by Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s chief of staff.
Mr Parsons and Lord Alli are still listed as joint owners of a £2 million flat in central London purchased in June 2003 and have previously hosted parties at a mansion in Kent.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing and all donations have been declared within the rules, and all relevant declarations have been made to the Electoral Commission.
Sir Keir Starmer is battling to contain a row over “freebies” which began after he was accused of cronyism for giving Lord Alli a temporary pass to Number 10, which was later given back, despite the peer having no official central government role.
Lord Alli gave the Prime Minister £32,000 to pay for clothing, as well as thousands of pounds for designer clothing for his wife Victoria, and work clothing to Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister.
The peer also lent Sir Keir the use of an £18 million penthouse, where he watched election night, and gave Labour the use of his Soho townhouse for strategy meetings.
Sir Keir initially failed to declare around £5,000 in designer clothing given to Lady Starmer by the peer, although he will not face a parliamentary standards investigation.
Mr Parsons could not be reached for comment. However, speaking to The Guardian last month said his former partner would not like the attention over donations.
“He will hate that this profile even exists,” he told the newspaper “But it will not stop him donating.”
Mr Parsons added that Lord Alli was a loyal friend and a source of advice and did not want anything from donations.
“The secret of his success in television was that he could make A-list presenters and big shot producers feel comfortable around him because he does not want anything from them. The same is true of politicians.”
