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Keir Starmer has declared more than £100,000 worth of gifts and free hospitality in the past five years, marking him out as the biggest recipient of such donations in kind in parliament. According to the Westminster Accounts, Tortoise’s fully searchable database tracking the money flowing into British politics, Starmer accepted more than £82,000 during the last parliament. This week’s update reveals a further £25,000 from the election period and shortly afterwards. The Labour peer and fundraiser Lord Waheed Alli accounts for nearly a third of all gifts to the prime minister, having contributed £18,685 of clothes and pairs of glasses when the party was in opposition, as well as more than £20,000 on accommodation during the election. Alli has also contributed a similar sum towards “private office” costs.
Alli’s role within Labour’s inner circles has come under intense scrutiny since the party entered government, after The Sunday Times reported that he had a pass to Downing Street despite not holding an official role.
Bloomberg subsequently revealed that Alli, a well-liked TV executive, had advised on public appointments while acting as fundraiser. It has also been widely reported that he covered the costs of Starmer’s wife’s designer clothes.
In the 2019 parliament and the current term, Starmer has declared more gifts from the Football Association Premier League than any other MP, worth more than £12,000 in all. He has previously justified this by saying he accepts free box seats because of his security requirements.
He argued: “If I don’t accept a gift of hospitality, I can’t go to a game. You could say: ‘Well, bad luck.’ That’s why gifts have to be registered. But, you know, never going to an Arsenal game again because I can’t accept hospitality is pushing it a bit far.”
But while Starmer tops the list for accrued freebies, he’s not the biggest recipient since the 2024 election.
That honour goes to Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader who has declared gifts and hospitality worth £35,000 since July, of which £32,000 came from the former Boris Johnson backer Christopher Harborne. Harborne, who is based in Thailand, broke records in the previous parliament for having given the outgoing prime minister a £1m donation.
Farage has also declared £2,000 for two ringside seats to see heavyweight boxers Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora at The O2.
