Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “snatching” the Winter Fuel Payment from pensioners despite accepting high-value gifts from donors.
Since becoming Prime Minister, the Labour leader has accepted an estimated £107,145 in tickets, gifts, benefits and hospitality, including a large sum from donor Lord Waheed Alli which provided both he and his wife Lady Starmer with new clothes.
Rushing to the PM’s defence, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he has “no objection” to Starmer accepting donations and that there are “many ways that sponsors support politicians”.
However, Starmer has landed himself in hot water after notable donations included Taylor Swift tickets, a corporate box at Arsenal Football Club and glasses valued at £2,485.
Sir Keir Starmer has been blasted for accepting high-end freebies worth over six figures
PA / GB News
Discussing the latest Labour scandal on GB News, political commentator Emily Hewertson hit out at Starmer and claimed he is “holding everyone else to a different standard” in comparison to his own Government.
Raging at the donations, Hewertson swiped: “I know for a fact that if it were a Conservative prime minister who had claimed all of these free gifts, there would be absolute outrage.
“Keir Starmer has talked a lot about difficult decisions, and whilst he’s snatching the Winter Fuel Allowance from pensioners, it seems the only difficult decisions he’s been making is which £2,000 pair of designer sunglasses to nab from one of his mates.”
Highlighting the “hypocrisy” of the gifts Starmer is accepting, host Patrick Christys claimed that the Prime Minister “doesn’t want to mix with the plebs”, and that many high-profile figures do not use the same level of security protection.
Sir Keir Starmer and wife Victoria have been slammed for ‘donorgate’ after accepting gifts from Lord Waheed Alli
Getty
Patrick argued: “We’ve seen other people do it – today Prince William walked down Aberdeen High Street and he’s in line to the throne.”
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In defence of Starmer, former Editor of LabourList Peter Edwards hit back: “I think that’s nonsense to say. If you are Prime Minister, you can’t sit in the ordinary seats like the rest of us do. And that’s just the reality.
“Keir Starmer and Tory politicians don’t walk down the high street, and any royal who is walking down the high street will have a security detail, two or three feet behind them.”
He added: “If politicians left and right, red and blue all cite the same reasons for it, security, maybe they’re telling the truth and they can’t just live an ordinary life.”
Patrick disagreed with Edwards, responding: “I just feel like the way that Keir Starmer has let himself down is he’s been so unbelievably puritanical about it, saying he’s going to clean up politics, he’s going to clean up cronyism unless you want to buy my wife a new wardrobe. In which case, come on in.”
Emily Hewertson said the scandal has been a ‘wake up call’ for Labour
GB News
Hewertson agreed with Patrick, telling GB News: “In his manifesto, there was this big emphasis on making politics more ethical, and it was going to be an ethical Government.
“But quite quickly, we’ve seen that he failed to declare and was delayed in declaring these gifts.
“So I think this has been a big wake-up call really, for Labour. And they’ve realised that it’s much easier to sit on the sidelines and just criticise, but actually, when they’re in charge, they’re very willing to make some very questionable decisions as well.”