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UK foreign secretary David Lammy has claimed the new Labour government has no “transparency issue” after it emerged the prime minister broke parliamentary rules by not declaring clothing given to his wife by Labour peer and donor Waheed Alli.
Multimillionaire businessman Alli financed the purchase of clothes and tailoring for Sir Keir Starmer’s wife Victoria, according to people briefed on the move. The donation was first reported in The Sunday Times.
The prime minister initially received advice when he came into office that he believed suggested he did not need to declare the donations made to his wife, according to the people.
He checked again this week, on September 10, and determined that the rules obliged him to declare the donations and promptly did so, the people added.
“This is not an issue of transparency, he is attempting to be transparent,” Lammy told the BBC on Sunday.
“The truth is that successive prime ministers, unless you’re a billionaire like the last one, do rely on donations, political donations, so they can look their best, both in the hope of representing the country, if you’re in the opposition, or indeed as prime minister.”
Lammy added that he was not suggesting that Starmer was “broke”, but pointed to the fact that in the US there is a specific budget for leaders and their family members to procure outfits so that they can represent the American people well.
The issue has triggered particular scrutiny because Starmer has spent the past few years presenting himself as a stickler for the rules and has vowed to root out all forms of cronyism and corruption from government.
It is unclear whether the parliamentary commissioner for standards will investigate the late declaration of donations to Starmer’s wife.
Alli, who donated clothing to the prime minister and other Labour cabinet ministers, already faces an allegation of cronyism after being given a Downing Street pass for several weeks despite not having an official government position.
He is Starmer’s biggest personal donor, having given the prime minister more than £18,000 worth of work clothes and glasses, and having paid £20,000 for accommodation costs during the election campaign.
During the past year, Alli has made donations to four current cabinet ministers including Lammy, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and education secretary Bridget Phillipson, as well as Starmer himself.
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly, who is currently in the running to be the next leader of the Tory party, said that Starmer had been “really aggressive” in his criticism of Conservatives for allegations of cronyism and failing to comply with parliamentary rules.
“I think it’s absolutely legitimate that we point out the hypocrisy of someone who basically got his job by criticising others,” he told Sky on Sunday.
The MPs’ code of conduct states that members must register “any benefit given to any third party, whether or not this accompanied a benefit for him or her” as long as the benefit or donation was given as a result of the person’s membership of the House of Commons or their political activities.
A person briefed on the declaration of donations said that the mistake was made because of an “unfortunate combination” of a question from Starmer’s office that was not sufficiently specific, and a reply that did not “cover all bases”.
“We genuinely believed we were following the rules as they were set out,” they said.
Alli was made a lord by former prime minister Tony Blair in 1998, at 34, making him the youngest and first openly gay member of the House of Lords at that time.