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

[LargeDeviation]

https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-faces-investigation-over-possible-breach-of-parliamentary-rules-after-labour-donor-pays-for-wifes-clothes-13215216

And Keir Starmer should have paid himself for his 'several pairs of glasses' and £19K worth of work clothes? On top of that there was £20K for accommodation for Sir Keir and another 'similar sum' on 'private office' costs.

Purely by coincidence, it seems the donor was given a Downing Street security pass allowing easy access to the corridors of power without any role in government.

And yes, Carrie and Boris Johnson should have paid for their wallpaper and hampers too, that is just as sleazy.

Well it wasn’t a very good guesstimate was it? I mean, she could have looked on Air B and B to see what a luxury three bed apartment would cost at that time of year. The actual cost of one night is likely to be at least the cost of what she was claiming for five.

They are all the same, busy lining their own pockets at other people's expense.

Unfortunately I did. Those are things I am extremely familiar with. Her approach to housing is, rather more worryingly, more clueless than her attitude to freebies.

I'm on the left, but tbh it was a rookie error to accept clothes. from rich and politically interested donors, especially after criticising others for similar. I'm glad they've backed down on it. It isn't even as though Starmer is poor-he isn't.

That said, all the Tories bleating should put a sock in it. Their party had their noses well in the trough, usually undeclared, from one end of their term in office to the other. Plus jobs for their mates and neighbours. And really big ticket items. And still lying about some of it. They aren't on the same scale, and you know it.

That’s not true. And even if it were, it’s the Labour hypocrisy that’s so loathsome.

Labour’s like some supercilious priest using his pulpit to rail against fornication and drinking and then being found pissed in a brothel.

I think they should get a clothing, haircut, accessories allowance and work within it. They shouldn’t have it paid for in return for unfettered access to no.10 by a donor.

Lol🤓

I totally agree with what’s written above ^^

There was so much corruption going on with the Tories under Johnson, it was unbelievable!

Remember Carrie’s makeover of their Downing Street flat and the furore over their Mustique holiday followed by all the kickbacks and dodgy deals over Covid contracts for favoured “chums”?

amp.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/08/boris-johnson-no-confidence-vote-partygate amp.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/08/boris-johnson-no-confidence-vote-partygate]]]]

Honestly, if the current PM and his wife are representing our country at national events such as Rembrance Sunday or at international summits, among other world leaders, then I think they should have a decent clothing alloowance! The salary for PM is after all pretty poor compared with what KS could be earning as a senior lawyer and I think that sacrifice should be recognised.

The difference is that the Downing Street flat had already been made over recently when Carrie got her hands on it so that makeover was entirely frivolous! Theresa May was able to manage with what was already there!

I think the issue is Labour were acting holier than thou and going on about sleeze, cronyism, chaos, confusion etc etc when the Torys were in charge. It built up a real feeling of unease and lots of people voted tactically to get the Tories out, some even just voted for Labour thinking they were better with all their 'fully costed fully funded' jargons and Starmer making out they were the party to trust.

They are worse than the Torys and a lot of people feel cheated. Especially young people who believed what they said.

Labour came in promising to restore trust. One of the very first things they should have done was look at this culture of accepting "gifts and donations". But they didn't and indeed were never going to because it has become so normalised that they cannot see how wrong it actually is and most of them eat from the trough.

Trust in the Labour party is damaged beyond repair. Different cabinet members blustering in interviews and coming out with inconsistent excuses simply highlights Starmer has already lost control in his first few months as PM. Incredibly weak leadership.

You have hit the nail on the head. This is exactly why I voted labour. I feel like an absolute fool to have trusted their election promises. Lesson learned - they are not to be trusted again.

I think many feel the same. But who would you vote for? @Babadookinthewardrobe

I agree that Keir has not got good cohesion among his team yet but it’s very early days and I don’t go along with this right wing rhetoric spouted by the Daily Mail that Labour’s reputation is damaged beyond repair. That’s nonsense.

Honestly, I am relieved that Keir and his wife look professional and decent when representing the country at home and abroad and not some clown like Johnson with crumpled suits who wasn’t capable of brushing his hair!

And as far as I understand it, Keir Starmer has declared every penny and has been open about the sponsorship. It’s not as if he was trying to deceive anyone! In fact, you could say it was him being honest that brought this issue to light as previous PMs and their wives received a dress allowance through a general party fund that was far less transparent!

Besides which, a personal clothes allowance is nothing compared with the utterly scurrilous defrauding of the economy which went on for personal gain during Covid, by many members of the Tory government. That was truly cynical and immoral.

Besides which, a personal clothes allowance is nothing compared with the utterly scurrilous defrauding of the economy which went on for personal gain during Covid, by many members of the Tory government. That was truly cynical and immoral.

Do you have any evidence of that? If so, I think you should go to the Parliamentary authorities and the police with your evidence. Or perhaps the ‘corruption tsar’ 🤭.

The courts haven’t found any bribery or any other wrongdoing by the last government with Covid contracts and neither has the NAO.

It’s this sort of nonsense that Labour’s used to pull a massive political fraud on the public.

Labour did use this. And now they have their own freebie stuff dominating the headlines

Even if they couldn't care less polls show many people do.

There is no transparency unless we know why. And we don't.

No it isn’t. And it won’t be if they do the sensible thing and review the rules on accepting gifts and introduce stringent standards about the use of donations. No more frocks, no more holidays, no more gold wallpaper, donations can only be used for campaigns and business expenses.

Starmer’s leadership is extremely strong, remember the riots? You should, they were only six weeks ago.

Labour is a party in crisis - anyone can see that. Their first conference in power has been completely overshadowed by multiple distractions and Starmer clearly has no way to control the narrative.

The conference isn’t even halfway through. It’s not a party in crisis at all, that’s just wishful thinking on the part of Tory stalwarts.

Apart from people on here who will be loyal no matter what, people's perception has changed, you can see it in the polls.

It's a narrative that has cut through and Labour only have themselves to blame

Well I’m a Lib Dem and I can see that the Labour Party are having problems. It also seems to be the Labour stalwarts who are putting their fingers in their ears and pretending everything is OK.

Utter nonsense - the polls quite clearly speak for themselves.

I don’t believe Labour’s in any irrecoverable difficulty at the moment. Nearly all governments are at the mercy of world conditions and events though. That’s where the electorate’s goodwill comes in.

Having blown the goodwill so early, Labour had better hope that fate’s kind. Otherwise they will be in deep shit.

It's more an mn Labour thing to think all is great. With no notice of commentary elsewhere