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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Keir Starmer has defended his gift-taking as he took part in two eve-of-conference interviews, insisting that it is transparency that matters.
But the prime minister is facing new questions about a football match he and his controversial chief of staff Sue Gray attended after hospitality was arranged by a former aide to Boris Johnson. Sir Keir was pictured at the game with lobbyist Katie Perrior, who ran Mr Johnson’s publicity campaign when he became mayor of London in 2008.
Mr Johnson has praised Ms Perrior, who runs the PR firm iNHouse, and her business partner Jo Tanner as “the Fortnum and Mason of communications”. He added: “They deliver, and they deliver quality. Without them, I simply would not have been made mayor.”
When Mr Johnson was accused of racism, Ms Perrior said of him: “The Boris I know is liberal and respectful of all different communities. He loves the great melting point [sic] that is London, and recognises what diverse cultures bring to our capital city.”
Sir Keir has admitted that squabbling among his senior staff and the rows surrounding Ms Gray are damaging his government after less than three months in power.
The prime minister has also sought to see off a row with unions and the left at the party conference in Liverpool by insisting that there will be no return to austerity, as he and his chancellor Rachel Reeves seek to gain control of the public finances.
After accepting £107,000 in gifts since 2019, more than two and a half times more than any other MP, the Labour leader was challenged on whether he was being hypocritical after criticising Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak for doing the same.
He responded: “Rules matter. Transparency matters. My criticism was actually more about Johnson than Sunak, because I don’t think [Sunak] needs to take donations.”
He said: “I’ve reiterated that this side of the election, people are entitled to see whether you’ve taken gifts, and if so, what are they for?”
He has recently accepted the donation of a box at Arsenal so he can watch matches there without security concerns, and remains unrepentant.
“Now that is a gift, but I think accepting that is more understandable. If I insisted on going in the stands, that would cost the taxpayer more money through extra security.”
The prime minister insisted that “people will judge me on delivery” rather than on the gifts he has received.
But it came amid further allegations of gifts in The Mail on Sunday, which pointed out that hours after the row broke about Waheed Alli paying £5,000 for Sir Keir’s wife Victoria’s clothes, the prime minister had enjoyed a freebie at a Spurs match with his chief of staff Ms Gray.
The prime minister made it clear to The Observer that he wants to root out leakers from his operation, as he feels they are causing damage to his incipient administration as it tries to get underway.
He said: “It is my job to do something about that, and I accept that responsibility. And that just damages everybody.”
But with the biggest row set to be over his plans to cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners to help fix a £22bn black hole in the public finances, Sir Keir has promised not to usher in a new wave of austerity.
The prime minister was keen to counter suggestions that he had only offered doom and gloom since coming to power, emphasising instead his promise that Labour would deliver for voters.
“I want to answer the ‘why’ question as well as the ‘what’ question,” he told The Observer. “We do need to say why, and explain and set out and describe the better Britain that this ladders up to.”