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

[TealTraybake]

Perhaps the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire needs his freebies because MPs aren’t paid enough. Or perhaps he’s just the knight commander of the most astonishing hypocrisy.

Well, the Tories were still banging on about the note 14 years later, so there's a while yet.
Seriously - you have to see that it currently is the Tories' fault and will be for quite some time as things need fixing and it can't be done overnight.

Haha at 'grown ups in charge' still gracing the posts on here

Just listening to one Labour MP sound defensive and superior. No wonder they are getting it back from the public. No clue

@rainfallpurevividcat but agree with you @Mouglaseast

I think the word "earns" makes a difference but fwiw I don't agree with MP's having second jobs, particularly when that second job enables you to be paid for promoting your politics.

No, I think the PM should get a budget for these things, or even better, just be paid a substantially better salary.

Similarly each political party can pay their leader enough to pay for fancy dresses or whatever

Not weird deals where they get all sorts of odd freebies from murky individuals

Agreed. MPs should be paid a better salary and prevented from havjng second jobs. To be an MP properly ought to be a very full time role

Ridiculous. He could have gone down the route of being a top lawyer in the private sector and earned at least 3x as much and got far more freebies, if he was in it for the money and freebies.

Lord Alii a longstanding Labour donor had a temporary pass to Downing St in order to arrange an election victory celebration there - nothing 'mysterious' about that

And in no way 'corrupt'

Plenty to disagree/disapprove of but needs to be fact based

Does Tony Blair going to war to line his own pockets not count then, or are you meaning further back in time?

Ah the 'top lawyer' chestnut

I heard it often with other PMs who had a lot of money and didn't have to do it. I'm sure you said the same then.

Where are there "grown ups in charge" Not here. The ones in charge lied to get elected knowing full well what they would do once in power and currently have wasted no time in grabbing anything they can get their hands on. These aren't "grown ups". They are corrupt dirty criminals who don't even pretend to look respectable or honest anymore. Everything is a cash grab. They will bleed penniless pensioners dry this winter while they and their rich mates laugh about it. Free Gear Keir and Vicky Sponger can be bought by anyone who donates enough money to them. They have absolutely no integrity.

Do we want to lock-in the concept that you can only be a politician if you're independently wealthy and able to pay your own way from your own funds? - from your own savings if there's a move to prevent second jobs/alternative sources of income whilst in an elected position.

What's so shocking about someone in paid employment having to pay their own way? It's the whole point of having a job.

Maybe we need to move away from the idea that politicians are celebrities who need an extensive wardrobe of expensive clothes to do their job. And maybe we should stop behaving as if a PM's spouse needs to accompany the PM on official business, they were not elected. I could get behind the idea of increasing a PM's salary to take account of the fact it would be very difficult for their spouse to hold down a PAYE job.

But if you needed 20 different dresses because your husband was on the campaign trail and you had to go to Buckingham Palace state dinners so needed evening dresses could you afford all those?

Yes. Because firstly I’d buy what I could afford and cut my cloth like the rest of the country. And second I might take the opportunity to level up the idea that women need to have this sort of wardrobe or they can’t possibly support their husband in his work.

Loving the use of longstanding there to give it some legitimacy.

Also I don't believe that's why he had a pass.

Labour, 3 months in, have lost the integrity argument

Utter rubbish.

I did have second thoughts after I'd posted what I did. I wouldn't call them all grabby cunts. The system allows them to receive gifts. Correct me if I misunderstand that.
I do understand about other jobs where people must not and do not take gifts, or at least must declare them. The DHSS visiting officer visited a pensioner who'd made a batch of jam and insisted on her taking a jar, but she could have refused and said it was against the rules, I guess. Yes, decades ago, and not me.
What if the MPs and PMs all refused the personal gifts and asked the donor to give the money to the party?
Should legislation be brought in to prevent these 'big presents'? Who would raise it as a debate in the House of Commons?
If I can afford my heating and my shoes, so can they all, and so can members of district council planning committees.

Yes not sure why 'longstanding' means much at all

The thing about gifts is they come from other people. You don't expect people to start attacking your morality because your granny gave you a nice Christmas present.

Obviously the Prime Minister is going to be more of a target for questionable types than less important figures. I'm not sure we have to blame him personally.

Typical Mumsnet behaviour getting upset over nothing because wahwah he doesn't lick your fancy rich boots like previous PMs.

Isn't this spread over five years? It's a drop in the ocean on any measure - whether set against the staggering sums that Johnson was hoovering up, or against the tax that Sunak and his wife were avoiding. Contrary to them, Starmer has been completely open about this.

Maybe there needs to be a separate system whereby people who need to keep turning up to official dinners etc or need extra security have an expense allowance. I'm prepared to bet that if that system had been in place already, Johnson and others would have made sure the allowance was into seven figures.

Or wahwah are you doing that to his garb and glasses

Yes when Sunak avoided 100s of 1000s in tax on his US investments & spent £8m of our money on a helicopter, Tory supporters on here all cried "Politics of Envy and all within the rules"

When Starmer accepts a free Arsenal ticket and declares it, he is a corrupt criminal with no integrity.

The hypocrisy is staggering.

If a prime minister's wife has a very nice day dress, how many times should she wear it at a public event where she is accompanying him?

Its pity you weren't so vocal about Bojo and Sunak, but then you wouldn't be would you.

If she wore the same dress twice, the Mail would scream "Starmer let down UK on world stage with dress made in China"

They're out now. A pity you aren't so vocal about Starmer and co but you wouldn't be would you.

Instead of arguing whose worse ..maybe the focus could be on getting an actual decent democracy. This means no bribes or donations. This means paying a good wage to MPs and ministers. It perhaps means funding of political parties out of public money.