Starmer took donor’s gifts because there is no taxpayer funding for clothes

[MrsRobinsonsHandprints]

Mind-blowing

1 rule for him and another rule for the general public. To accept ££ worth of hospitality on Taylor Swift and Coldplay tickets is not necessary when you’re prime minister. It’s an indulgence. An indulgence more unnecessary than heating your home in winter. Likewise do both him and his wife not have a job? To buy their own clothes? Totally fine if V.Starmer wants to swan around wearing designer labels.. but her or her husband should pay for them. As does everyone else in the country.. or they are hit with the full force of the law.. with theft being the number 1 reason for women being incarcerated in prison. Starmer seems to bend the rule of law when it applies to him. A lot of people don’t realise that law is open to interpretation and we, the people, could probably build a reasonable case against him to hold these moonlighting grifters to account. It’s behaviour like Megan and Harry, terrible. I would expect more from a supposedly upright legal man.

I’m sure a lot of the women who are in prison for theft would not have turned to stealing in the first place …had they been gifted £££ worth of designer clothes, hospitality etc.

Apparently, he claimed more for entertainment than any other MP, including football, Taylor Swift concert and Wimbledon tickets.

I don’t think it is (yet) on the same scale as BJ or TB (with his £1mio/annum consulting contract at JPM for 1 day a week ‘work’, immediately after he left government), but it is a good start!

Helena Kennedy wrote a book called 'Eve Was Framed' pointing out that a very large proportion of female prisoners = mothers incarcerated for relatively minor financial crimes like not having a tv licence or shop-lifting

I wonder how many of them would have been able to manage better if there had been an actually robust CMS service which took seriously the business of making fathers pay for their children?

Oh I don't know - spending £2k a week of taxpayers money on a chauffer driven car to take you 4 miles to work (when he was at he DPP) is off the scale...and in total spending 3 times what his successor spent. It's not even as if he did a better job as a result

It just smacks of a level of entitlement to 'stuff' that other people pay for that is not congruent with being an authentic leader of any party, never mind a slighlty left of centre one IMO, lecturing others on how they should bear teh burden of his government decisons. I woud say its right up there with Bliar and Johnson on the taking the pis** front

www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/18/keir-starmer-100000-in-tickets-and-gifts-more-than-any-other-recent-party-leader

Well so much for Integrity and the Moral High Ground.

Didn't take long did it. 🙄

"Free Gear Keir and Victoria Sponge" (The Spectator's comments page has excelled itself today).

Yeah, I actually would not theoretically object to PMs or their wives having some kind of accomodation for a special clothing allowance. Whether that was tacked on to salary as a matter of course, or some kind of thing you apply for on an as needed basis, someone could figure out the most sensible approach.

I'd actually rather that than accepting public donations for it. Both because it seems like it could create a conflict of interest, but also - if there are special clothing needs, legitimately, than that needs to be part of the remuneration for the position. My husband had to buy a helmet once for his job, that he only wore from time to time and never outside of work but it needed to be fitted to him - his work rightly paid for it.

In any case, this stuff absolutely has to be declared and I'm pretty surprised it wasn't - why would he put himself in that position, it seems easy enough to fill out a bit of paperwork.

As future PM he was likely invited to much more in terms of free hospitality.

I think the options are:
Give them an allowance for clothes

Allow them to accept freebies or discounts from clothing suppliers

They just pay for their own clothes but then no one is allowed to moan if she wears the same thing twice to a public event (eg a G7 spouse event)!

Why does anything need to change? As previous PMs and spouses have all managed to buy, borrow or rent their own clothes I really don’t see why this government expects to be treated differently.

🤣🤣🤣

Sir Keir Starmer declares gifts and freebies totalling more than £100,000 - the highest of any MP | Politics News | Sky News

Typical politician. He pretends to be better/different but they are all the same aren’t they. They all have their nose in the trough.

Quelle surprise ( not)
They are definitely all the same it seems

I think Starmer needs to get himself in line with other industries. IMO he should not have accepted anything at all. Additionally, measuring himself by what Bojo accepted is also unacceptable - it's not ok just because Bojo got a load of stuff (also wrong IMO).

Over the past 20 years, things have changed a lot. My dh (who is just a pleb, nobody famous or anything) is allowed to accept nothing other than a meal, and only if work is being discussed at the meal. In previous years, people offered football tickets - he can no longer accept these. He also has to be careful with stuff received at Christmas. Regardless of who it's addressed to, everything is shared and nobody receives anything worth more than about £10-£20.

Many schools have limits on the gifts teachers can receive - they must declare or even decline them. Often it's about £50. So if a teacher can't even get £50 on top of their very average salary, it's appalling for Starmer to get £100,000 worth of anything. It should all be returned or donated to charity - immediately. And rules are needed - MPs can accept nothing, end of.

I’m not allowed anything.

Not even a coffee or a chocolate.

It seems I’m held to higher standards than MPs and the PM.

Labour MPs like Lammy saying that the Starmers need clothes bought for them so they look good on the world stage is so insulting. Why are only very expensive designer clothes good enough ? Surely Starmer has good suits from his previous job and could afford more. So what if his wife wears the same outfit twice. I'd think good on her if she did. I voted Labour and expected better from them.

I have never , ever considered the contents of someone’s wardrobe ( or their spouse’s) when deciding who to vote for. So those apologists claiming Sir Keir needed them can get lost. What’s that thing we say on Mumsnet a lot ..’ When someone shows you who they really are, believe them” ??

Hilarious. A man of the people he is not! Imagine how sincere he'd look with his 'socialist' credentials if he and wife just wore clothes from M&S or the like. Instead they just want fancy, expensive goods. Makes me sick.

I voted Labour and expected better from them.

Well, I raised this issue before election, people had a lot of fun

Keir Starmer accepted £76,000 of freebies | Mumsnet

Sir Keir Free Gear could not do any wrong apparently

Interestingly, it £24k of new freebies in two months? annual state pension of two people

It seems to have taken off since then. With the public that is

I work internationally and represent my private sector company in multiple jurisdictions. I am always professionally turned out. I earn a fraction compared to Kier Starmer. I have never even dreamt of suggesting my employers should pay for my wardrobe, let alone accepting backhanders for clothing (which would be a sackable offence in my regulated financial sector position. Just as it is in any legal or financial field, as Starmer damn well knows given his legal background).

The corruption and hypocrisy demonstrated by KS, his wife and his supporting cronies in accepting all these backhanders is off the scale. It is truly disgusting. I voted labour in the July elections and I am absolutely furious about this. I feel like we’ve all been done up like kippers in ever believing in KS.

Incidentally, Helena Kennedy was Keir Starmer's mentor when he was a young barrister. She recorded a short video endorsement for Starmer's leadership campaign in 2020 - she talked about his values and integrity.

Tryingtokeepgoing
spending £2k a week of taxpayers money on a chauffer driven car to take you 4 miles to work (when he was at he DPP) is off the scale..

Especially when the Independent reported that he lived 'a direct Tube ride' from the CPS offices.