Starmer facing calls for an investigation into gifts from Lord Alli after £16,000 in new clothing revealed

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Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls to be investigated over gifts and freebies after it emerged he received a further £16,000 of clothing donations from Labour peer Waheed Alli last October.

The SNP has written to the House of Commons standards commissioner demanding a probe of the gifts, which include thousands of pounds worth of clothes and accommodation.

In a letter to the Commons commissioner for standards, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests Sir Laurie Magnus and the Cabinet SecretarySimon Case, Brendan O’Hara said the revelations have "become Sir Keir Starmer’s version of the expenses scandal".

The SNP MP also called for an investigation into Lord Alli’s Downing Street pass, which he was given for a period after the general election.

Donations from Lord Alli, such as money that was spent on clothing, have been under scrutiny.

The long-serving peer risked fresh embarrassment over the row after it emerged he had criticised MPs in 2011 for being “on the take” and “entitled”.

Asked about the London riots in an interview with the Financial Times, two years after the expenses scandal broke, Lord Alli said: “When you’re at the bottom of the heap and you see people can bankrupt your economy and still take huge bonuses, when MPs can help themselves to expenses which they think they’re entitled to but are probably not right…

“When [journalists] who are the checks and balances on that political power are breaking the law with such abandon when you look up and see everybody on the take – everybody – and you can get a free pair of trainers…

“Tell me what the difference is between a free pair of trainers and a banker’s bonus, or a TV set in a second home that isn’t in your constituency or [hacking] Milly Dowler’s phone to get £1,000 from the editor of some tabloid?”

Lord Alli added: “The difference is it’s four years in jail for the person with the trainers and nobody else.”

Mr O’Hara said that unless the matter is “comprehensively investigated” then it is “inevitable that the damaging drip, drip of revelations will continue to erode public trust”.

In the letter sent on Thursday, Mr O’Hara, the SNP’s Cabinet Office spokesman said: “The huge scale and highly questionable nature of these donations, at a time when the Labour Government is telling the public they need to tighten their belts and accept painful austerity cuts, including the removal of the winter fuel payment from pensioners, has given the impression that Labour government ministers are in it for themselves – that it is one rule for them, and austerity for everyone else.”

He later added: “I believe there now exists a clear and immediate public interest in launching a full and independent investigation into all of Lord Alli’s donations and gifts to the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers and Labour Party MPs.

“There must also be an investigation into the decision to give Lord Alli a security pass to Downing Street, and into how – and why – it was used.”

On Friday evening The Guardian reported there were further clothing donations worth a total of £16,000 to Sir Keir by Lord Alli in October 2023 and February 2024. According to the paper, the donations were described as “for the private office of the leader of the opposition”.

On Thursday, Sir Keir defended using a home owned by Lord Alli for a video urging people to work from home during the Covid pandemic.

The clip in December 2021 was filmed at the flat in Covent Garden.

Speaking to journalists in New York during a visit to the United Nations, Sir Keir said: “Anybody who thinks that I was pretending it was my own home, the idea that I’ve got union jacks by my fireplace at home or that I would invite a bunch of you lot into my living room to have a look around… the idea that I was trying to pretend that it was my home is pretty farcical.”

Speaking on Thursday, Sir Keir added: “I understand why the public have questions about this. I think the best thing we can do is to explain the circumstances and be absolutely clear that nothing wrong has been done here.

“Everybody has complied with all of the rules. Sometimes it takes time to go through the individual examples, which may or may not put the context for people to see and make their own judgments.”

He had already defended using Lord Alli’s home so his son could revise for his GCSEs during the general election campaign.

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