Keir Starmer has declared more free tickets and gifts than other major party leaders in recent times, with his total now topping £100,000 after recent support for his lifestyle from Labour donor Waheed Alli.
The prime minister has accepted almost 40 sets of free tickets during his time as Labour leader, mostly to football matches but also £4,000 of hospitality at a Taylor Swift concert and £698 of Coldplay tickets in Manchester.
He was criticised this week for the scale of gifts given to him by Lord Alli, who paid for work clothing worth £12,000, accommodation valued at more than £20,000 and glasses valued at £2,485 – especially since the donor was temporarily given a pass to No 10 after the election.
Angela Eagle, a minister, struggled to defend the prime minister’s decision to accept so many freebies when pressed on Times Radio on Tuesday. Asked why he shouldn’t buy his own glasses, given his salary, Eagle said: “I’m afraid I’m not responsible for decisions the prime minister makes.”
She added: “The prime minister has had his say on that … next time you interview him, you could ask him yourself. I don’t have an opinion.”
Starmer’s acceptance of freebies raised eyebrows after the FT reported during the election he had taken £76,000 worth of hospitality and gifts. Since then, he has declared another £4,000 in Taylor Swift tickets and £20,000 of accommodation from Alli.
This was mostly provided during the election campaign but also continued one week after he had become prime minister until 13 July.
The Labour party declined to answer when pressed on whether Alli had funded Starmer’s hotel accommodation during the election or loaned one of his own properties as a base.
Starmer has previously insisted his acceptance of hospitality is related to his security requirements of not being able to go into the stands, saying: “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.”
Other previous major party leaders have not declared so many free tickets and hospitality.
During his time as opposition party leader, David Cameron declared one set of Rugby World Cup tickets, and being hosted at the Conservative party’s Black and White ball, along with various gifts of hampers and other treats. He also registered £4,475 of discounted personal training sessions.
The value is difficult to quantify as the rules on declarations were only tightened after 2010 but the volume of his registered freebies is far lower than those accepted by Starmer.
During his time as Labour leader from 2010 to 2015, Ed Miliband declared BA upgrades on a flight to South Africa worth up to £5,866 and Paralympic tickets of unknown value. After leaving his job as opposition leader he declared tickets to see the Boston Red Sox baseball team worth £2,607 in 2019, and £480 to attend the Lunar festival.
Jeremy Corbyn revealed he took Glastonbury tickets worth about £450 two years in a row for a family member but he otherwise did not accept hospitality as Labour leader from 2015 to 2020 – aside from a first edition book donated to a museum. Since leaving the job, he has declared about £600,000 in donations to his legal fighting fund.
Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have less directly comparable declarations to Starmer as they all became prime minister as soon as they took over as party leader. Ministers are not forced to declare hospitality on their MP register that they receive in their official roles.
However, while he was prime minister, Johnson declared a £15,000 holiday from donor David Ross, and a £12,000 party paid for by Brown’s Hotel while he was party leader.
Johnson avoided declaring the value of a free holiday from former MP Zac Goldsmith on the basis that it was provided in a personal capacity.
After leaving office, Johnson ended up declaring more than £100,000 of free accommodation, mostly from Anthony and Carole Bamford. He also accepted a £4,000 second-hand bike from Nechirvan Idris Barzani, president of Kurdistan’s regional government.
In the months after resigning as foreign secretary in 2018, he took two tickets with hospitality to a Test match at the Oval, with a value of £1,800.
Sunak has declared no personal hospitality, apart from honorary membership of the Carlton Club worth £2,595. Truss had no hospitality as party leader, but before then, she declared just four events during her previous 10 years in parliament: a Norwich City football match attendance worth £2,000, Wimbledon tickets worth £340, opera tickets to Porgy and Bess with a value of £400 and £1,104 in tickets to Newmarket races.
Theresa May as an opposition shadow cabinet minister accepted Russell and Bromley shoes, as well as twice enjoying hospitality at the Brit awards and Henley festival.
However, in the month she left office, replaced by Johnson, she accepted two free tickets from the England and Wales Cricket Board Limited to watch a game at Lords.
A selection of freebies
Keir Starmer
He took £20,000 of unspecified accommodation from Ali, as well as £16,000 in clothes and more than £2,400 of glasses before the 2024 election.
Four tickets to a Taylor Swift concert came to £4,000 courtesy of the Premier League.
He took a free four-day holiday to a Welsh beauty spot worth £4,500, provided by a company called Crownhawk Properties in August 2023.
The most pricey football match was four box tickets to watch Arsenal v Watford provided by the Premier League worth £2,160 in November 2021.
David Cameron
The former prime minister got a discount from a personal trainer worth £4,475 as he limbered up for the election in 2010.
Tory donor Michael Farmer paid for Cameron’s tickets to the party’s summer event in 2009 at a cost of £1,600, while another Black and White ball bash was covered by Prince Rupert Loewenstein.
He attended the final of the Rugby World Cup at the Stade de France in Paris as a guest of the Rugby Football Union, with Lord Ashcroft providing some transport, but the cost was undeclared.
Boris Johnson
The former prime minister accepted several big ticket holidays. These included a declared £15,000 holiday from donor David Ross.
He also accepted a free holiday from Zac Goldsmith, the former MP, but the cost was never declared as it was given in a personal capacity.