Starmer insists he’s ‘completely in control’ of his personal authorities amid Sue Gray row | EUROtoday

Sir Keir Starmer insists that he’s in “complete control” of his authorities as he heads to his social gathering convention on Sunday mired in controversy over the wage of his chief of employees and the acceptance of luxurious items by himself and his spouse.

The PM gave a spherical of interviews on Thursday with regional broadcasters forward of the Labour Party convention in Liverpool with questions over his determination to just accept greater than £100,000 in items, the position of Sue Gray and a continued row concerning the slicing of winter gasoline funds to pensioners.

Concerns over the ability of Ms Gray in authorities had been raised once more this week when it was revealed she is paid extra as chief of employees than the prime minister.

On Wednesday, the BBC revealed it had been advised that Ms Gray requested for and was given a wage of £170,000 after July’s election, about £3,000 greater than Sir Keir.

Already there had been shock over her affect in making appointments to senior jobs and her presence on his journey to Washington DC final week to debate the battle in Ukraine and Middle East with Joe Biden.

Pressed on Ms Gray’s pay by BBC South East’s political editor Charlotte Wright, the prime minister mentioned he was “not going to get into discussions about individual salaries”.

But when he was requested concerning the nameless briefings and whether or not he was in charge of his workforce, he mentioned: “I’m completely in control. I’m focused and every day the message from me to the team is exactly the same, which is we have to deliver.”

The prime minister was additionally questioned over Arsenal’s reward of a personal field, value greater than £8,000 a match, for him to observe dwelling video games. Sir Keir described the transfer as “common sense” as a result of for safety causes he’s now not in a position to make use of his season tickets within the stands.

Asked by BBC Yorkshire’s political editor James Vincent how relatable it was for him to get entry to a company space, he mentioned: “Since I’ve been prime minister the security advice is don’t go in the stands, not least because it’ll cost a fortune to the taxpayer in security police officers if you choose to go in the stands.”

He continued: “I’ve taken that advice, I’ve been offered a ticket somewhere else. Frankly I’d rather be in the stands but I’m not going to ask the taxpayer to indulge me to be in the stands when I could go and sit somewhere else where the club and the security say it’s safer for me to be. That is for me a common sense situation.

“I’m a life-long Arsenal fan. I’ve been going for years and years and years and it’s a real passion of mine and I can go with my boy.”

But following the row over a donation by Labour peer Waheed Alli for his spouse Victoria to purchase £5,000 of attire, the PM appeared to sidestep questions over whether or not he purchased his personal fits.

Lord Alli, who has made a lot of different donations, was given a brief safety cross to Downing Street after the election and has been allowed to attend cupboard conferences.

Sir Keir was requested by the BBC Northern Ireland’s political editor Enda McCafferty: “Why don’t you buy your own suits? Some people are asking out there, why the does the prime minister need to get his wardrobe sponsored?”

He responded: “The important thing in all of this is that we follow the rules, which is really important to me and make the declarations so that everything is transparent. I’m utterly focussed day in day out actually on how we make the economy work for everyone, how do we get the health service in the place that we need it.”

Asked by BBC West’s David Garmston if “mud is being thrown” over donations and freebies, the prime minister batted again: “I want to tell you what my focus is because we’re now 11 weeks or so into the new government.”

Sir Keir was additionally interrogated over his determination to chop winter gasoline funds to pensioners however continued responsible the £22bn black gap within the funds he says the Tories left behind.