Wardrobegate! Conservatives demand ‘robust’ standards probe after Keir Starmer failed to declare clothing gifts to his wife from millionaire Labour donor and peer _ Hieuuk
Sir Keir Starmer was last night mired in a fresh scandal over clothes given to his wife by a Labour donor.
It emerged this weekend that Lord Alli – who is already at the centre of the ‘passes for glasses’ row – paid for high-end clothes, a personal shopper and garment alterations for Lady Starmer.
But the Prime Minister, who is thought to be worth around £3million, failed to declare the gifts. It comes less than a month after Lord Alli, who bought suits and spectacles worth £18,865 for Sir Keir, faced questions over being granted a rare No 10 security pass.
Conservatives have demanded an investigation into ‘Wardrobegate’, accusing Sir Keir of breaching parliamentary rules.
Some questioned why the PM, who has just stripped pensioners of their winter fuel allowance, seemingly could not pay for clothes despite earning £166,000 a year.
Sir Keir Starmer accompanied by his wife Victoria Starmer outside the door of 10 Downing Street following Labour’s victory
It emerged this weekend that Lord Alli (pictured) paid for high-end clothes, a personal shopper and garment alterations for Lady Starmer
Tory former minister Andrew Griffith said: ‘It beggars belief that the Prime Minister thinks it’s acceptable that pensioners on £13,000 a year can afford to heat their home. But, when he earns more than 12 times that, he apparently can’t afford to clothe himself or his wife.’
He added: ‘While his top team want a taxpayer-funded clothes budget to look sharp, people across the country are being forced to make tough choices in the face of Labour’s damaging decisions.’
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Labour MP Clive Efford said the revelations were ’embarrassing’ while another backbencher accused Sir Keir of being ‘detached’ from reality – with the elderly having to ‘scrimp and save even more’ to keep the heating on.
They told the Mail: ‘If you are leading a party for people who struggle in life, you’ve got to walk in their shoes and this privilege is so adjunct from the reality of the lives of ordinary people in our country.’
Tonight the Tories wrote to the standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg demanding that the Prime Minister be ‘thoroughly and robustly investigated’.
In the letter, seen by the Mail, the party said the ‘scandal’ must be probed as it is ‘not the first instance of the Prime Minister failing to declare donations and abiding by parliamentary rules’.
Sir Keir was found to be in breach of the MPs’ code of conduct for failing to register eight interests in time in 2022. He assured the then-commissioner Kathryn Stone that his office processes had been reviewed to ‘ensure this doesn’t happen again’.
But it emerged that Sir Keir had initially failed to declare clothing donations for his wife –thought to have been given both before and after the Election – within the 28-day time limit.
Sir Keir Starmer and Lady Victoria disembark from a plane to attend the Nato summit in July 2024
Prime Minister Keir Starmer with his wife Victoria at Doncaster Racecourse on September 14
Victoria Starmer (pictured) has been praised for her style with outfits by designer brands including Me+Em, Needle & Thread and Edeline Lee
Labour MP Clive Efford (pictured) said the revelations were ’embarrassing’
The Sunday Times reported that the PM approached the parliamentary authorities last Tuesday to make a late declaration after being given updated advice on what needed to be registered.
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘We sought advice from the authorities on coming to office. We believed we had been compliant, however, following further interrogation this month, we have declared further items.’
Lord Alli’s involvement with the Labour leader has already proven controversial after it emerged he had been given a Downing Street security pass without apparently having a Government role.
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No 10 was initially unable to say why he was granted a temporary pass, but the PM later said the former TV mogul had been helping with the ‘transition’ into government.
Questions about who authorised the pass have also gone unanswered with suspicion falling on the PM and his chief of staff, Sue Gray.
Former No 10 adviser Henry Newman added: ‘Every day brings more revelations about the Labour Government’s growing cronyism scandal.
‘Keir Starmer needs to come clean about who authorised Lord Alli’s pass and exactly what he was doing in Government.’
Yesterday David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, sparked ridicule by saying there was no budget in the UK for leaders’ clothes and they must ‘look their best’ for Britain.
He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: ‘I’ve just come back from the US, where presidents and first ladies have a huge budget paid for by the taxpayer so that they look their best on behalf of the US people. We don’t have that system over here.
‘The truth is that successive prime ministers – unless you’re a billionaire like the last one – do rely on donations… so they can look their best, both in the hope of representing the country, if you’re in the Opposition, or indeed as prime minister.’
While US presidents do have an expenses budget which can be used to buy clothes, their spouse does not.
Sir Keir Starmer and Lady Victoria Starmer enter 10 Downing Street on July 4
A Conservative source responded: ‘It’s absurd of David Lammy to suggest that the prime minister on £160,000 a year cannot afford to buy himself or his wife clothes and deserves taxpayer support. This at the same time as the Labour Party is robbing pensioners to pay off their political paymasters.’
No 10 has declined to confirm the total value of the gifts to Lady Starmer, nor say when Lord Alli started to pay for her clothing.
The Prime Minister’s wife has been praised for her style, with outfits by designer brands including Me+Em, Needle & Thread and Edeline Lee.
There are no recent records of prime ministers declaring that their partners have been given clothes.
Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah rented high-end outfits for key events, as did Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie.
