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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Sir Keir Starmer has been given the use of a corporate box by Arsenal football club worth thousands of pounds, it has been reported, amid the ongoing row over the prime minister’s donations.
The PM - a season ticket holder and an avid supporter of the team - used the box for the first game of the season according to ITV News. The prime minister is unable to use his normal Arsenal seats as a result of security concerns.
The box is advertised as costing at least £8,750 per game.
The extent of donations accepted by Sir Keir has come under growing scrutiny this week after it emerged the prime minister - who has a salary of around £165,000 - had initially failed to declare a donation for dresses for his wife, Victoria, from millionaire Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli.
Lord Alli bought more than £5,000 worth of clothes for Lady Victoria Starmer. Meanwhile, he has given Sir Keir £18,685 of work clothes and several pairs of glasses.
It also emerged on Wednesday that Lady Starmer accepted two free tickets worth hundreds of pounds each to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
Defending the prime minister on Wednesday, former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said: “These are things that happen all the time in politics,” questioning whether the public expects the prime minister to “take a packed lunch” to a state dinner at Buckingham Palace.
On Tuesday it was confirmed that Sir Keir will not face an investigation by the UK parliamentary watchdog - but questions have been raised over the amount of freebies claimed by the prime minister.
The number of gifts and hospitality donations accepted by Sir Keir while he was leader of the opposition has also raised eyebrows.
He received more than £70,000 worth of hospitality and gifts from UK sources over the last Parliament, including a private box for four people at Epsom Downs Racecourse, with catering and tickets, worth £3,716, and four tickets to see Coldplay at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester worth £698 - both in June 2023.
He also received a number of individual tickets for football games, including four tickets with hospitality for Chelsea vs Arsenal valued at £1,650 and three tickets with hospitality for Crystal Palace vs Arsenal valued at £2,142.
When asked about donations in July, Sir Keir told reporters: “The system is one where if we take any contribution or donation of any sort that is all set out and declared. And that’s what we’ve done properly on my behalf.”
MPs must declare any gifts, benefits or hospitality with a value of over £300 that they receive from a UK source to the register of interests, which is updated fortnightly while Parliament is sitting.
They are expected to declare anything that might reasonably be thought by others to influence their actions or words as an MP.
The number of donations accepted by the Labour leader appears to be more than that accepted by previous leaders of the opposition.
David Cameron, who spent five years as the leader of the opposition, appeared to have accepted fewer donations of hospitality and gifts. While it is not directly comparable – as rules around declarations were tightened in 2010 – the overall volume of declarations were lower than that declared by Sir Keir in his team as the leader of the opposition.
He accepted two tickets to the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in May 2007, private plane and helicopter flights, as well as a number of other gifts.
While Ed Miliband was Labour leader, he declared tickets to the paralympic games for he and his wife of an unknown value, as well as upgrades on a British Airways flight to South Africa worth up to £5,866.
Jeremy Corbyn accepted tickets to Glastonbury worth around £450 two years in a row, but apart from that did not accept hospitality, aside from a book he donated to a museum.
Since stepping down as Labour leader, he has declared about £600,000 in donations to his legal fund.
Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
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