Is there anybody in the Labour party not getting handouts from Lord Alli? I ask with the latest revelation that the ever-generous Alli gave a £1.2million interest-free loan to Labour MP Sheila McDonagh so she could buy a house for her dying sister, Baroness McDonagh, who had been a bigwig in the party since the Blair days.
According to The Telegraph, Alli and the Baroness were best of friends for 25 years. So, when MP Shelia came to him with the bad news that her sister had a brain tumour and needed a house where nursing could be accommodated, he didn’t hesitate to offer the money.
Sadly, the Baroness who was diagnosed in November 2021, only survived until last year. Lord Alli hasn’t had his money back because the will is still caught up in probate. The sisters were that close that for a number of years they shared a house together.
There is much to be admired in Lord Alli making sure that his longtime friend had a comfortable ending and the £1.2m was properly noted in the members interests of Shelia McDonagh, who has been MP for Mitcham and Morden for 27 years.
That said is it really in the interests of democracy or of the Labour party (they are probably mutually exclusive) to be in the pocket of one man.
The disclosure of the interest-free loan (have just asked Santander for mine) comes hot on the heals of a serious piece of hoodwinking on the public by Sir Keir Starmer.
So, this is the story. Back in the Christmas of 2021 Starmer needed to make a video in response to Boris Johnson’s Covid announcement.
And once again our old chum Lord Alli pops up again as Labour bosses decided Starmer’s home wasn’t right for the film and instead they would use Alli’s £18million flat in central London- the same one Starmer and family later moved into during the General Election campaign.
But to deceive the viewers they decided to dress the house so everybody watching would think it was being shot at his place in Kentish Town, North London.
That meant a family photo with wife Victoria and their two children on the shelves behind Starmer. Plus, there were also Christmas cards, neatly arranged.
I agree with the Tories that since he paints himself as Mr Honesty Starmer was clearly trying to deceive the viewers into believing the Christmas warmth came from his own living room.
The Prime Minister’s popularity has collapsed since taking office and the Alli episode would have added to the sense there is something rotten in the heart of No.10.
To my mind it’s not Lord Alli’s fault, it’s the fault of Labour MPs, big and small, who are queuing round the block for a handout.
I think for there own survival Labour should ban Lord Alli from funding every Socialist in the land. However he liked to pop round my place……