to believe Lady Starmer should pay for her own clothes and personal stylists?

Me&Em make very acceptable dresses at a mid market price point. If I were Victoria Starmer's stylist, it would be one of the first places I would take her.

I was aide to a politician.
She was unmarried.
She lived in the same home she always did.
She drove the same car.
Wore the same clothes.
Our office furniture was embarrassingly old.
We didn’t didn’t even use postage stamps for anything except business.
She made history for her groundbreaking legislation and representing women.

So no - all politicians are NOT the same.

I hate generalisations like this.

What is this donor getting out of Labour? He seems to feature prominently in each scenario of sleaze.

@Rummly

Michael Foot was never going to be able to pull off even the most expensive of clothes

Yes.

I can’t begin to imagine what on earth they were thinking.

I have no problem with her being entitled to expenses to buy stuff as PM’s wife that she wouldn’t normally buy. However, she seems to want all the frills but to keep a low profile.

Taking all this free stuff from a donor makes them look greedy and gullible, especially with the free pass thing and the private party at No 10.

Sleazy AF

In fairness to that lovable old twit Michael Foot, it wasn’t a donkey jacket. It was a Loden coat. Prince Philip was impressed by it, apparently.

More than £20,000 is quite a lot for some clothes and glasses…

@Birdscratch no need for that, you are just being needlessly rude. Wearing what you can afford, without accepting strings attached freebies surely is a sign of integrity? I couldn’t tell you what either of them have worn, ever, because I honestly don’t care. I do care about integrity, honesty and self awareness though. Sadly lacking in ALL our political parties.

Alternatively, tell me you’ve spectacularly missed the point, without telling me… 🤣🤣

I remember Michael Foot being ripped apart for appearing at the Cenotaph in his donkey jacket
If we want our PM and his wife representing our country in Primarks finest then OK. I don't see a great issue with a clothes allowance for someone who is going to be scrutinised like the PM and their spouse is.
I think the problem with Boris' wallpaper is that most people would think £30k is more than enough to redecorate a flat which will only ever be a temporary residence. They just had to go over the top

The wallpaper was painted over by 2022.

At least the wallpaper was stuck to the wall and left behind when they left. Two tier’s glasses will presumably only benefit him.

We’re not though. We’re talking about £250 dresses from Me+Em. There’s no necessity to wear dresses costing thousands for state occasions, one little black dress looks very much like another.

I'd have to agree with you on the styles @user47 . I like Me&Em's catalogues and look books, but the clothes are mostly quite expensive and they tend to swamp me, so I'm not a devotee. The puffed shoulders are a particular betise. I loathe puffed sleeves with a passion.

Slow news day?

So much going on right now

Well that’s champagne socialism for you.

For me, not for you.

Crap story for a slow news day. Couldn't give a monkey's myself.

DH used to give small Christmas gifts, a torch, a calendar or a box of biscuits sort of thing, to his main contacts. Obviously all branded but now he's not permitted to do anything except the biscuits. One per department, and apparently very much gobbled up. Much nicer than Aldi Rich Tea equivalents. But unlikely to sway decisions.

It's not the length/coverage - I love some Kemi Telford for example and am a modest dresser myself. So much Me + Em is synthetic and over priced - and that suit Rayner wore did no one any favours. Yes a certain sort of willowy upper middle class lady can carry it off but imo there are much nicer and more considerately produced clothes at that price point.

It’s really disappointing and crazy. What kind of message did they think this would send? There is definitely a case for a PM to be paid more than £160k a- that’s pretty much a ‘head of’ middle to senior manager salary in a financial services firm - but cashing in on freebies while taking the fuel allowance from OAPs on 13k is such a bad look and seems massively lacking in political judgement

Quite

The thing is, I would actually mind a lot less if it wasn’t a case of us serfs having to cut our cloth, stop driving, turn the heating off over winter and take on extra jobs to make ends meet. I simply cannot stand the us and them organisation of this country. The rich and powerful are allowed to be super rich and powerful. Whilst we are not allowed to benefit more than just a little from often working around the clock and in more than one job. It’s utterly shameful. And when you sell yourself as the good party, the party of the people, expectations are that you won’t turn out to be a self serving politician.

We have to watch our taxes be frittered away abroad and we’ll all freeze because of their crazy climate policy. They should lead by example.

It's interesting that Alli and Me and Em feature on Rayners donors as well: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=25429
I wonder if he is/was involved in their huge financing push in 2022.....

Exactly. It doesn't take a lot to work out how this works in politics.