Starmer son finds a quiet place to study for GCSEs

^ This. 100%.

Anyone coming on this thread to slag off Starmer is a parroting a hypocritical Tory line. Read the damn story. His friend offered the use of his penthouse flat during the election campaign when his son was studying for his exams and there were protesters outside his house. No money changed hands. Starmer is scrupulously honest. He declared it, and he estimated the rental cost for a short stay would have been £20k. No breach of the rules.

A brief reminder that when he was foreign secretary Johnson slipped his special branch minder and flew to Italy to attend the party of the son of a former KGB officer and Russian oligarch. Who he later elevated to the House of Lords. And which trip he failed to disclose. So come on, all you who have slagged off Starmer on this thread, show me where you have gone to town on Johnson for this (and the hundreds of other breaches of the ministerial code perpetrated by the Tories when in power).

You'd think so.

Oh people are twisting things for their own political ends.

No outrage with VIP lanes handing out billions of tax payer money for personal gain... or 14000 people dying each year because of poor AE care... but take a suit etc and declare it on the register of members interests, all within the rules and its all Corrupt and immoral.

Argue for changes in the rules but to pretend this is a moral issue is beyond belief.

what could be immoral that 14000 who would otherwise live, dying? Labour was elected to improve this but you lot don't care so go after the trivial.

It's a bit like the latest news about Lord Alli lending £1.2 million to an MPs sister. On the face of it not corrupt. But none of these people (and no one in the real world) would have "friends" who can lend £1.2 million or let people use an £18 million penthouse or a multi million pound flat in NYC. The Labour MPs are making full use of this kind man's generosity. Someone none of them would know but for their jobs.

It just doesn't seem very socialist to me. Buy what do I know about the rules of socialist behaviour and how rules and morals apply to different people.

Except he's not a personal friend doing him a favour.

He's a rich Labour donor currying favour from a man in a position of power?

You can't see the difference?

So if you had a friend with a 2nd home in France and he/she offered you free accomodation, you would expect to pay tax on it would you?

I look fwd to you filling out a self assessment form....

I can get upset at what a lot of politicians do but as there was no money involved, let alone any cost to the Tax payer.... what exactly has he done wrong ?

what is corrupt here ???

Especially as he was so vocal on Boris. But he was on the take before he was even pm.

i can’t even get my head round how much they’ve taken. It’s a laundry list, him, raynor, his wife, proper creaming off the top. Even for free clothes. It’s so awful.

Blossomtoes had to correct me about the year Keir was born. He looks younger than he is.

People aren’t twisting things. We can only take your posts at face value. If you’re finding it frustrating and common then it is the way you’re writing, not everyone else.

fine you don’t take issue with the big freebies. I do. Millions of others do. We take issue with the taking freebies worth tens of thousands, for you that’s not a big deal. Fair enough. We have different morals.

I wasn't defending Keir Starmer particularly. I was just thinking back to the allowances scandal of maybe 2009-ish and 'family values' and 'snogging in the cupboard' and thinking that it's impossible to keep a tab on what they're all up to.

I did clock that error, completely knew what she meant as it was so close to the election which was a forgone conclusion but assumed that someone would not be able to resist making a big deal. Clearly he was about to be PM so the point stands that he was being given a benefit due to his imminent position that he would not have otherwise received.

It's not as if you don't make factual mistakes yourself @Blossomtoes Or is it a different rule for other people maybe.

The Leader sets the standard and the culture. A zero tolerance approach would certainly help. But if the leader is a grifter himself…

It is impossible for any party leader to ensure that her/his entire party is or was whiter than white.

Edit to say I think there might be some spots of integrity in the House of Commons. I hope I'm not clutching at straws.

“Then you haven’t read any of my other posts. My stance on this is clear. The clothes, glasses, etc are ridiculous and I’m bloody angry about such an unnecessary own goal. Furious in fact. The use of an empty flat for a month and the upgrade of an already paid for season ticket not so much. “

@BIossomtoes you're digging yourself in deeper to your pit. If something is wrong, it's wrong. You can't pick and choose which bits you think are ok. In fact that's worse.
No moral compass whatsoever.

The Telegraph (longer article behind a paywall) is reporting that the Guido Fawkes website has reported that Starmer's recorded TV message in December 2021 encouraging people to work from home if possible (following the Govt re-introducing restrictions re Covid) was filmed in Lord Alli's penthouse (because of the shelving behind him - better photos in Telegraph article).

Interestingly there's a photo of the Starmer family, including the children, in the background. Although judging by their appearances it was taken several years before, so not an accurate representation of what they look like now.

https://order-order.com/2024/09/25/starmer-may-have-breached-parliamentary-rules-with-alli-penthouse-covid-broadcast/

He should pay whatever the going rate for the rental is. It’s not about whether they want it or not it’s about being able to say there is no conflict.
Just to be clear I am no conservative. But this is wrong and they all need to do the right thing.

Does Lord Alli want the money back? I somehow doubt it. In the case of the flat there’s no money to give back because it’s notional value.

There is no defending it. It’s wrong. Period.
He should own up, pay the money back and apologise.
He should then ensure nothing like this happens again.
but we all know he won’t. They are all selfish, opportunistic, grifters.

Then you haven’t read any of my other posts. My stance on this is clear. The clothes, glasses, etc are ridiculous and I’m bloody angry about such an unnecessary own goal. Furious in fact. The use of an empty flat for a month and the upgrade of an already paid for season ticket not so much.

I didn’t say he was only the leader of the opposition, I corrected you when you said the flat wouldn’t have been offered if he was leader of the opposition. This is what’s so incredibly frustrating about MN. The twisting of words and denial of saying something that’s there in black and white is so dishonest. Ironic really when the topic under discussion is dishonesty.

When you try as hard as he did to build up an image, toolmaker's son etc, then it's all freebies, set up videos and lies then yeh it'll unravel pretty fast

Yeah you are. But honestly no matter how much you support one party, you should at least accept and be honest when things are going wrong, or they do something bad, or you lose all credibility. Yes he was the leader of the opposition, yes the poster was being sarcastic with the typo comment, but we all knew he was going to be pm. So trying to make petty arguments like oh he was only leader of the opposition when he had his hands out just makes you look either like you lack understanding or are such a desperate supporter you are trying to defend the indefensible

I’m not defending it. I’m pushing back on the hyperbole. And ridiculous untrue statements which a completely different poster tells me was a typo. Please.

He was clearly using it as a base. I can’t decide what is worse. Him and his wife accepting freebies as they do, basically on the take, or his lying about it and throwing his kid into the spotlight. At least Boris never used his own kids to defend himself.

keir is hardly skint, he’s worth about 8 million. I guess it’s how the rich stay rich . His wife has no reason to be on the hunt for free clothes. She can afford a few hundred,

it’s just so grubby.

After saying he wanted to protect his kids he is wheeling them out to protect himself. Plus it's not wholly true as the dates don't match up.

He must have been traveling loads around the country at that point. Why would anyone camp at his door rather than turn up at a pre arranged location for a press talk

Nuts excuse