Starmer son finds a quiet place to study for GCSEs

[justasking111]

Can't berate Starmer for this but think some parents will be aghast.

"PM suggests £20,000 accommodation donation was for 'son to find somewhere for GCSE revision' | Evening Standard" https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-donation-son-gcse-housing-acoommodation-prime-minister-b1183972.html

Going to stay at grandparents’ for some peace and quiet is a little different from being gifted the use of an £18m penthouse apartment in central London. I’m sure he had other options for his son, perhaps funded by himself, than a luxury apartment funded by a multi millionaire donor.

They've got Chequers FFS. Quiet, secure, no public allowed. And already at their disposal.

I find the media often do this.

They point out something they want outrage about and I think 'maybe you have a point'. But then they start hunting around for anything vaguely similar. By the time they have well and truly flogged the horse so much I start to think they are being ridiculous and suspect a witch hunt instead.

Taking free clothes seemed daft and I thought it was worth the highlight to bring an end to it.

But now they are so determined in the thing, I suspect an agenda instead. Free accomodation (aka staying at someone's house) is a zero story to me. See also Sky news who are running these stories about 'free hospitality' ad nauseum despite being the source of hospitality for Tory and Labour MPs alike. Hypocrits.

Ah, but does your granny make a nice sponge cake?

Or sausage sandwich?

You mean like a Victoria Sponge?

Chequers is for PMs. Which Starmer wasn’t at the announcement of the snap election in the middle of GCSEs.

The clothes and glasses, stupid and WTF, I’m with you on that. This story, not too bothered.

Well, I suppose we can say this for Sir Keir and his flunkies: a pass to No.10 doesn’t come as cheap as we had thought.

It seemed like you could get one for the price of a couple of suits and some specs. Then we had to add on some haute couture for Vic. Then for Angela Rayner. Then there was a New Year break at a Manhattan penthouse for Ang and her beau. And now we discover that a lengthy study stay at the luxury Covent Garden pad was part of it (I don’t know if York notes and a geometry set were chucked in as well).

I hope Lord Alli is as rich as the papers say. Otherwise he may need a winter heating allowance at this rate.

he couldn’t afford to maintain his integrity and pay for somewhere himself?

Same for so many professions.

I have no idea why it’s acceptable for politicians to accept anything that’s more than a token amount.

Because we don’t fund political parties and they’re entirely dependent on donations.

If you don't know the difference between a donation to a political party, and donating freebies to a politician, it's no wonder you can't see the hypocrisy.

So Starmer felt comfortable accepting an educational advantage for his son whilst simultaneously removing educational advantages from ordinary families. The hypocrisy of it all is galling.

The Opposition is funded by the tax payer. Parties are also funded by membership fees. So there are alternative revenue streams to donors.

Someone said that MPs don't pay tax on freebies as a benefit in kind.

Is this correct?

The left doesn’t appear to need much help. does it?

That’s new Labour for you, the Tories in red. I despair of this country’s political landscape. All absolutely bloody useless.

You mean Short Money which can’t be used for political purposes. The membership fees are a drop in the ocean compared with the cost of campaigning. The Tories have only got 180,000 members and the numbers are falling all the time. That’s why they ran out of money during the election campaign.

Donations are the way all the parties are funded. If you don’t like that the only alternative is to fund them through tax and I can hear the howls of outrage already. I’m not keen on the idea myself.

Yep.

Plus they aren't the only ones to get free sports and entertainment tickets. Journalists and business people do as well.

The clothes I can understand as Lord Ali is a Labour Peer, a fund raiser for Labour and has media companies but the places to stay is completely odd.

Ordinary families can't afford private schools though.

The average salary in this country is £34,963

I'm not sure how far a political party can fund itself with dresses, suits, glasses and penthouse loans. It's almost like donations to political parties are different from freebie donations to individual politicians somehow. 🤔🤷‍♀️

You said in your previous post "Because we don’t fund political parties and they’re entirely dependent on donations."

I wanted to correct that as that's not strictly true. Their campaigning may not be funded by the taxpayer but the Opposition still receives tax payer funding. And as mentioned, membership fees. So they are not "entirely dependent on donations".

Just being pedantic. But it's useful to have the full picture.

Lord Alli is interesting, a peer at 34, left school at 16. Has worked his way up according to wiki with a range of careers. Well worth a read.

There are plenty of “ordinary” families at private school. It’s not unusual for 20% of a school to be on a means tested bursary. There are around 1.4m stay at home parents. Most of those could afford private education for at least one child if they chose to work. There are lots of part time workers who could increase their hours to pay school fees.

Political parties - fine

But individuals - not fine

Starmer is an individual.