Sir Keir Starmer has been told to ‘come clean’ about the ‘favours’ he may have dished out to other donors, after it was reported that a millionaire TV mogul who donated £500,000 to the Labour party had been given ‘unrestricted’ access to Downing Street.
Shadow paymaster general John Glen MP accused ‘Starmer’s sleaze’ of ‘engulfing this new government’ amid Lord Waheed Alli being given a security pass to No10.
The Tory said: ‘It’s time Labour came clean on all the people they’ve parachuted into top civil service jobs and the donors they’ve returned favours to so the independence and integrity of the civil service is maintained.’
It comes as it was announced Labour donor Ian Corfield had stood down from his role as a Treasury director to become an unpaid adviser after heavy backlash.
Lord Alli led the fundraising charge for the Labour Party in the leadup to the election, donating nearly £20,000 for the PM in waiting’s stylish glow-up.
Sir Keir Starmer has been told to ‘come clean’ about the ‘favours’ he may have dished out to other donors (The PM pictured in May wearing a Sandro Orion jacket while on the election trail in Blackpool)
Lord Waheed Alli (pictured) was given a security pass to Number 10, allowing him unrestricted access to the heart of power in the UK
He handed out £16,200 for Sir Keir’s ‘work clothing’, with a further £2,486 on ‘multiple pairs of glasses.
Sir Keir was spotted wearing a £519 Sandro Orion jacket while on the election trail in Blackpool, although it is not known if Lord Alli’s donation paid for it.
Lord Alli’s unfettered access to Downing Street has raised eyebrows in Whitehall, the Sunday Times reports. It is rare for donors to receive a pass for Number 10, with access usually being restricted to civil servants, advisers and close family members of the Prime Minister.
A civil service source told the newspaper that decision to give Alli a pass was a mystery to everyone in Downing Street, save for the donor himself and whoever granted it.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said that, while Lord Alli may have had a pass ‘for a short time’ immediately after the election, he no longer has one.
He said: ‘I don’t think it’s unusual for people to have passes to attend political meetings if they need to do so.
‘I don’t think he’s got the pass now but he may have had one in the past.’
There is no suggestion that Lord Alli has broken any rules. But it comes amid a growing row over jobs in the Civil Service being given to Labour donors.
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) is already in the middle of a growing row over alleged cronyism
Ian Corfield, who has donated £20,000 to the party over the past decade, including £5,000 to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, was given a temporary job as the Treasury’s director of investment.
On Saturday, it emerged that Mr Corfield would now be working as an unpaid adviser rather than a salaried civil servant, and the Conservatives urged the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser to investigate his appointment.
Others with ties to Labour or Labour-supporting think tanks have also been appointed to Civil Service roles, prompting complaints from the opposition about the politicisation of the usually impartial bureaucracy.
