Starmer pays back more than £6,000 in gifts after donations row

Sir Keir Starmer has paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he received since entering Number 10 after a row over ministerial donations.

The Prime Minister is covering the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets, four to the races and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favoured by his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer.

It comes after Sir Keir and other Cabinet members – who vowed to “clean up” British politics – faced weeks of criticism for accepting tens of thousands of pounds worth of freebies from wealthy donors.

The Prime Minister has committed to overhauling hospitality rules for ministers to ensure better transparency about what is provided following the backlash.

On Wednesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister has commissioned a new set of principles on gifts and hospitality to be published as part of the updated ministerial code.

“Ahead of the publication of the new code, the Prime Minister has paid for several entries on his own register. This will appear in the next register of members’ interests.”

Gifts paid for by Sir Keir include four Taylor Swift tickets from Universal Music Group totalling £2,800, two from the Football Association at a cost of £598, and four to Doncaster Races from Arena Racing Corporation at £1,939.

An £839 clothing rental agreement with Edeline Lee, the designer recently worn by his wife to London Fashion Week, along with one hour of hair and makeup, was also covered by the Prime Minister.

Questions about donations intensified on Wednesday, after it emerged that long-standing Labour backer Lord Waheed Alli was under investigation by Parliament’s standards watchdog over an alleged failure to register interests.

As the probe threatened to overshadow the Prime Minister’s trip to Brussels, where he was meeting EU figures as part of his bid to “reset” Britain’s relations with Europe, Sir Keir said it was “right” for him to repay the cost of some gifts.

He told reporters travelling with him to Belgium: “We came in as a government of change.

“We are now going to bring forward principles for donations because, until now, politicians have used their best individual judgment on a case-by-case basis. I think we need some principles of general application.

“So, I took the position that until the principles are in place it was right for me to make those repayments.”

However, Sir Keir has also accepted a further £6,134 in “clothing and personal support” for Lady Starmer in June, from Lord Alli, according to the latest register of interests published on Wednesday.

That declaration is likely to come under scrutiny after it emerged earlier on Wednesday that the peer is facing a probe by the Lords’ commissioner over a potential breach of the members’ code of conduct.

The watchdog said it was looking at an “alleged non-registration of interests” by the former media executive.

Labour has said the peer will “cooperate fully” with the probe and is “confident all interests have been registered”.

The Prime Minister also took £920 from Tottenham Hotspur stadium for two tickets to the north London derby in September, and £1,000 from Arsenal FC for a game in August, according to the register.

He has previously defended his decision to accept hospitality in order to attend football matches, citing security concerns which prevent him from watching from the stands without a large and expensive police presence.

The Conservatives accused the Prime Minister of only being transparent when “his back’s against the wall” and questioned why other senior members of Government such as his deputy Angela Rayner were not repaying gifts as well.

“This announcement today poses more questions than it answers,” a party spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Tory leadership hopefuls accepted tens of thousands of pounds worth of donations as they pitch to succeed Rishi Sunak, including almost £135,000 registered by frontrunner Robert Jenrick since August.

Among the former immigration minister’s declarations is another £25,000 from Spott Fitness after transparency concerns were raised about £75,000 previously given to him via the company.

According to its accounts, the firm has no employees, has never made a profit and has more than £300,000 of debts, and in January it registered a loan from Centrovalli, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Businessman Phillip Ullman named himself as the source of the funds earlier this week, saying he wanted to show he was not “hiding anything”, while Mr Jenrick has said the donations were “perfectly legal and valid”.

Other declarations in the register published on Wednesday were:

– £2,300 worth of hospitality from Tottenham Hotspur FC accepted by Foreign Secretary David Lammy to watch the north London derby in September.

– £1,660 worth of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley Stadium accepted from the Premier League by Liam Conlon, Labour MP and son of Sir Keir’s chief of staff, Sue Gray, in August.

– £134,376.51 in donations declared by Tory leadership frontrunner Mr Jenrick, £152,508.22 by Tom Tugendhat, £89,000 by James Cleverly and £40,000 by Kemi Badenoch from various backers.

– £836 declared by Angela Rayner for a spot in a DJ booth at nightclub Hi Ibiza, where the Deputy Prime Minister was filmed partying over the summer.