Terina Hine on Labour’s cronyism and corruption

Starmer won the election because the governing Tory party was transparently unfit for office, mired by scandal and corruption. It’s now clear Labour is little better. They promised change, but all we get is more cronyism and corruption.

Starmer has personally received more gifts than any other MP since 2019, in total £107,145 worth. Free trips, designer clothes, tailored suits, glasses worth £2,485, coupled with excessive pay for his Chief of Staff show Starmer had no intention of cleaning up politics.

Other perks for the PM included VIP tickets for Arsenal games, £4,000 worth of hospitality at Taylor Swift concerts, £678 worth of Coldplay tickets. Gifts for relaxation justified because the job is so demanding.

During the election campaign alone, Starmer accepted £76,000 worth of gifts. In total, he’s received £32,000 in gifted clothes – that’s more than the average salary – half of which was recorded as ‘private office expenses’.

And he is not alone. Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner were at it too. Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, defended her Taylor Swift freebies as impossible to refuse because her daughter is a Swiftie. Is it any wonder faith in our politicians is so low?

Accepting such freebies is more than just politically naive, it’s politically tone deaf with a strong whiff of corruption. Lord Waheed Alli, Labour donor and major gift bearer for the Starmer family, was rewarded with a security pass to No 10.

And it’s not just personal. When the government intends to establish an Independent Football Regulator, should the PM accept corporate hospitality by a leading club? Should Labour have accepted a £4-million donation from a hedge fund which invests in arms and fossil fuels and then appoint the co-chair of the hedge fund’s climate advisory board as the government’s new climate envoy? Probably not.

Like the Tories before them, with the new austerity and attacks on welfare claimants, they receive with one hand and they take with the other.

Refusing to reverse the two-child benefit cap means 4.3 million children are growing up in poverty. Cutting pensioners’ winter fuel allowance will inevitably lead to vulnerable pensioners freezing to death. They talk of cutting welfare fraud and sickness benefits as though the two are linked and ill health a personal failing and not the result of poverty, squalid housing, and a crumbling NHS.

Starmer’s ratings have plummeted by a staggering 45 points since he become PM in July. His predecessor could have told him that snazzy suits do not equal popularity, and now even Sunak’s ratings are higher than Starmer’s. If things continue like this, Starmer will sink to the Truss level of the PM popularity chart and the Daily Star may need to buy another lettuce.

From this month’s Counterfire freesheet