The Irony.. PM's donation was for ‘son to study for GCSEs’

[JustSpeechless]

PM suggests £20,000 donation was for ‘son to study for GCSEs’ | The Independent

Sorry if there are other threads, but I did search and nothing came up.

“My boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs. I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams, without being disturbed,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life – I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.

So its OK for the PM to be worried about his child's "one chance" GCSE year being disturbed ...but he's not so worried about other people's children feeling stressed during their GCSEs by introducing the private school VAT during an academic school year.

I don't have a child in private school doing their GCSEs. And I know that there are lots of people who support the VAT and those who don't.

But I think there is a midline where lots of people on both sides of the fence agree making this change during an academic year is not fair on the kids in key exam years...and I am one of them because not all parents have a Lord Alli to step in to ensure their child's "one chance" GCSE year is not being disturbed.

For Voting:

Unreasonable - I am with Keir and I am not really bothered with other people's children's "one chance" school year being interrupted.

Not Unreasonable - I agree Labour should not interrupt the academic school year and introduce the VAT in September 2025.

‘Keir and his merry band of wankers’ 😂😂😂

Kindly stop clouding the issue with facts..

@HistoryMmam As PP said it wasn’t a loophole, EU law forbids tax on education. Starmer has singled out private schools because it gets headlines. Why aren’t universities being forced to charge VAT?

This.

The problem is the hypocrisy.

He used taking his son to watch the football as justification for accepting free tickets to that too

No he didn’t. The reason for his paid for season ticket being upgraded to a box was because his security detail couldn’t protect him adequately on the stands. Nothing to do with his son.

I can't vote for either of those options

obvs enough for them to get in with a massive majority. What i don't get is how the people who took gifts of clothes, glasses (glasses FFS?) and holidays EVER thought that A) it was a good idea considering their stance on freebies, B) that it wouldn't be noticed and C) that it wouldn't annoy people especially in the face of their "its going to be tough but we are all in it together" message. Its like the old saying about breakfast, the chicken may be involved but the pig is committed.

Any decent parent will try to do their best for their children. I don’t have any issue with anyone doing anything they can with whatever resources they have available. What I do have an issue with is being lectured to about “privilege” by politicians taking whatever they can - be that luxury holidays, clothes or expensive accommodation.

The Prime Minister…..saying he was “not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong” and the freebies did not “cost the taxpayer a penny”.

Private education doesn’t cost the taxpayer a penny. It does, however, cost parents a fortune, and the Labour Party are now penalising those parents further through the tax system.

My boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs. I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams, without being disturbed

So his child has a right not to be disturbed, but any other child just has to put up with disruption? It’s ok for children to be forced to have their education disrupted by a spiteful Labour tax policy?

But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life

Yes, all children have once chance in life to get a decent education. Why is it only his child who deserves that?

It has been tough for the kids. I’m not pleading a special case but they’re 16 and 13,” he said. “That’s a very important time.”

So that age is an important time for his kids, but not for anyone else’s?

It’s bad enough to accept these enormous, tax free donations. To defend it and suggest that his children deserve special treatment is an absolute disgrace.

They ought to be utterly ashamed of themselves. To accept luxurious gifts whilst taking money off struggling pensioners and parents trying to get their child a decent education is an absolute disgrace.

Sheer incompetence from Labour. Which is a terrible thought, when they are now our leaders..

How long until the competent people get rid of Starmer. Hopefully not too long.

are there any competent people in the Labour party at present?

@godmum56 Someone I know who used to work with him very many years ago said he was smug and stupid. They told me this before he was elected, but it does seem to now be playing out that way.

Rishi Sunak stood in the stands at Southampton. Why can't Keir stand at Arsenal?

Wrong. He's repeatedly trotted out that line as an excuse. Every time he's pulled up on it it's 'muh BOY' as if using his own child as a shield wasn't really low. So yes that is the reason. Sunak sat in the stands as PM. Prince William sits in the stands with his son. Starmer would be absolutely fine and he knows it, he's just got a taste for the high life and all those lovely freebies - and we all know that.

This. Its tiresome.

I saw a figure - between 2019-2024 Boris received £6.4m from donors, Keir received £100k. I don’t remember any mainstream media outrage over his £100k worth of takeaways, £200k donation to decorating n10, the funding of his wedding - but Keir gets all the outrage for the equivalent of £20k per year. It’s disingenuous at best!

One good reason to have left the EU.
Nobody has to send their dc to private school and the way they masquerade as charities is sickening.

Did you expect your party not to be talked about when in power? Especially since they seem to be getting it wrong daily, enough for polls to plummet

Maybe a closed site would provide that but not a public forum like mn

@HistoryMmam Not all private schools are charities, only not for profits, and in case you’ve missed this also, their charitable status has nothing to do with their tax exemption. Nobody has to go to university either, so why not tax that too?

@Nottodaythankyou123 Two wrongs don’t make a right, and the mainstream media was outraged by Boris Johnson’s behaviour, I remember reading countless articles about Daylesford and his wallpaper.

Yes

Still on about polls that won’t be relevant for another four years @EasternStandard.

I know not all of them are charities. I think it’s about half, but still, those schools which go down this route are total crooks as far as I am concerned.

It’s not about not having somewhere to study at home it’s about his son finding the media outside their hone off putting. I’d presume the accommodation was the loan of a property for Kier’s wife and kids to stay in during that time. I’d guess it is a property owned by Lord Ali that he wasn’t using at the time. And I’d imagine the cost is an estimate of how much it would cost to rent it. Hence the high cost. I don’t see this has anything to do with VAT on school fees

Still quoting my posts @blossomtoes?

I usually ignore but still, you are keen

And yep the polls are shit for your party. Don't notice it if you want I couldn't care less.