Keir Starmer's €120,000 gift haul raises conflict of interest concerns
Keir Starmer has accepted gifts worth a total of over €120,000 over the past five years, including €24,000 since July when he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This is more than any other MP, according to Sky News, which analysed the parliamentary register of interests on Wednesday.
While MPs accepting gifts, if properly declared, is not against the law, Sky News notes that the scale in Starmer's case is noteworthy.
The value of the gifts he has received since December 2019, when the previous parliamentary term began, is €120,000. This amount is 2.5 times greater than the value of gifts received by the second-placed Labour MP, Lucy Powell, and more than the total value of gifts received by Powell and the following two MPs on the list combined.
From tickets to clothing collections
The list of gifts reported by Starmer includes, among other things, VIP tickets to football matches and other sporting events, Taylor Swift concert tickets, hotel accommodations, dinners, and clothing. The football match tickets alone are worth over €48,000. As noted by Sky News, some of these could pose a conflict of interest, as tickets worth more than €15,500 were given to him by the Premier League authorities, who oppose the establishment of a football regulatory body in England, which the Labour government currently plans.
Sky News reminded that ministers are usually advised to avoid accepting gifts from any organisation involved in current regulatory decisions of the government. It also revealed that Starmer, while leading the opposition, ignored warnings from some team members about accepting gifts. They feared this might cause him political damage, but Starmer argued it was within the rules.
Prime Minister's political trouble
The matter, though in line with the rules, may nonetheless be politically tricky - at the end of August, Starmer warned that before the foundations of the state can be repaired after the previous government, Britons will face tough times, and the budget presented on 30 October will be painful. Last week’s passed decision to strip nearly 10 million retirees of the universal right to state-funded heating subsidies in winter, limiting this right only to the poorest among them, is a sign of the painful decisions to come.
Starmer became Prime Minister at the beginning of July this year after the Labour Party he has led since 2020 achieved a sweeping victory in the House of Commons elections.
