(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid back more than £6,000 ($8,000) worth of gifts and hospitality he has received since entering 10 Downing St., as he sought to quell a freebie controversy that has distracted from the early work of his administration.
The gifts Starmer compensated donors for included six Taylor Swift concert tickets, four tickets to horse races and his wife’s clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer, according to a person familiar with the matter. The prime minister cast the move as an effort to bring greater standards to what donations are accepted by members of the government.
“We are now going to bring forward principles for donations, because until now politicians have used their best individual judgment on a case-by-case basis,” Starmer said at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday, when asked about the repayments. “We need some principles of general application. I took the decision that until the principles are in place, it was right for me to make those repayments.”
Starmer’s decision to cover the cost of some of the freebies marks his latest effort to move on from a row that has undermined his premiership. Starmer’s acceptance of various gifts and donations has led to charges of hypocrisy, given that he repeatedly attacked the former Conservative administration over its record on propriety and ethics.
The donations controversy deepened on Wednesday when a parliamentary watchdog said it was investigating Labour lord and donor Waheed Alli, who has donated expensive suits and glasses to Starmer, over an alleged failure to register his interests.
The House of Lords Commissioner for Standards issued a statement saying it was reviewing whether Alli breached provisions of the upper chamber’s code of conduct, which require that peers list all interests “that might reasonably be thought to influence their parliamentary actions” and also that their register of interests is “accurate and up-to-date”.
Starmer declined to comment on the investigation when asked by reporters.
Alli has become a controversial figure in recent months because he temporarily held a Downing Street pass, prompting questions about the access to power granted to a political donor. He also advised on appointments to public jobs while chairing Labour’s general election fund-raising, Bloomberg reported last month.
“The fact that an investigation is taking place does not mean that the rules have been broken,” the commissioner said.
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