THE Labour Party spent much of the past 14 years fulminating about Tory sleaze, yet it has only taken two months for Keir Starmer’s Labour to be unmasked as being every bit as sleazy as their Conservative predecessors. 

Keir Freebie Starmer has been outed as a serial recipient of freebies from rich businessmen who have apparently decided to shower the Labour leader with gifts worth £76,000 since 2019 out of sheer generosity and the kindness of their hearts. 

Last week it came to light that Starmer had accepted a gift of designer clothing for his wife Victoria from Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli which he had failed to declare to parliamentary authorities in due time. 

Starmer subsequently made a late declaration of the gift. It has been reported in The Guardian newspaper that Alli has donated £500k to the Labour Party since 2020 as well as giving Starmer personal donations worth over £50k. 

After Labour came to power in following July's general election Alli was given a security pass to Downing Street despite holding no position in government. When questions were raised about what on the face of it looked like cash for access, Alli's security pass was revoked. Starmer has refused to answer questions about who authorised Alli's security pass, the reason it was deemed necessary to give him one, or who made the decision to revoke it and why they did so. 

However, today the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards announced that Starmer will not be investigated for his apparent breach of parliamentary rules by failing to declare the gift within 28 days as Westminster's standards office demands. 

The decision has not been well received by SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn who was subjected to an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over the alleged misuse of 28 pence worth of Westminster stationery. That investigation dragged on for four months and concluded with no action being taken. 

It was sparked when the SNP leader sent out mugs printed with the words, “Controls on family sizes - what's the point of Labour?”, a cheeky reference to Labour's own merchandising – mugs with “Controls on immigration” emblazoned on them. The SNP mugs were sent to the press gallery in Westminster. 

The stunt was publicised on social media with a photo of one of the mugs on top of a House of Commons compliments slip from Stephen Flynn's Commons office reading, “the Labour Party has a new range of mugs in production, they're made in China, just like Sir Keir Starmer's latest policy”, a dig at Starmer's refusal to abolish the two-child cap on benefits. 

The use of the compliments slip in this photo was deemed to be a possible breach of Parliamentary standards serious enough to warrant a four-month long investigation – itself arguably a serious misuse of Parliament's resources while Starmer's failure to declare a gift from a man to whom he'd given a security pass to Downing Street gets nodded through. You could not ask for a clearer example of Westminster's double standards. 

Starmer has accepted gifts of clothing, tickets to see Coldplay, Taylor Swift, and football matches. He has signalled that he intends to keep on accepting expensive gifts from Labour Party donors, insisting that there is a "massive difference between declarations and corruption." 

Speaking to journalists travelling with him on his visit to Rome, Starmer dismissed the idea that taxpayers should fund such expenses for prime ministers and their spouses, but suggested it would be “pushing it a bit far” to deny him the right to accept certain kinds of hospitality. 

Giving the example of football tickets, which the Prime Minister is known to accept as gifts, he said: “I’m a massive Arsenal fan. I can’t go into the stands because of security reasons. Therefore, 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.” 

Notably Starmer did not address the question of accepting the gifts of designer clothing for his wife or suits and designer glasses for himself. 

'Labour MPs have a low bar when it comes to protecting their own careers'

With his massive Commons majority Starmer is untouchable, he's now in his Dark Ages Despot era, accepting gifts of tribute from his minions while cracking down hard on those who dare to defy him, or even to toady sufficiently. 

The Labour whip's office, which does not act independently of Starmer's instructions has reportedly imposed “feudal” sanctions on MPs who defied the leadership to miss a recent vote on axing the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners and has barred them from speaking to the media about the issue. 

A total of 52 Labour MPs missed the vote, all but 12 of whom had reportedly been given permission to be absent. 

Despite its unassailable Commons majority the Labour leadership has taken a zero-tolerance position against any signs of dissent amongst back benchers. Labour MPs are being told in no uncertain terms that their job is to rubber stamp the leader's decisions, not to have any opinions of their own. 

The MPs who did not have excuses for missing the vote have reportedly been sent letters telling them they are to have their future behaviour monitored and not to expect privileges, including help to get onto select committees. 

One aggrieved MP told The Guardian newspaper: "Quite frankly, the letter is feudal and completely misplaced when people are abstaining to protect very vulnerable people." 

You might have thought that actively voting against the policy would do rather more to protect very vulnerable people, but Labour MPs seemingly have a very low bar when it comes to protecting their own careers. Only one Labour MP voted against the policy.