Diane Abbott accuses Starmer of being ‘in pocket of millionaires’ as minister defends PM | EUROtoday

Diane Abbott has accused Keir Starmer of being “in the pocket of millionaires” as senior celebration insiders concern that Labour is being placed on trial over the freebies saga.

The declare by the veteran leftwing Labour MP, who Sir Keir’s allies tried to dam from standing within the current election, has come amid rising unease over the affect of Lord Waheed Alli and the £107,000 of items acquired by the prime minister since 2019.

The row is threatening to derail what ought to be a triumphant Labour convention in Liverpool within the wake of the election victory in July.

Already comparisons are being drawn with disgraced former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson. Ministers have privately admitted to The Independent that the comparisons are a priority.

But cupboard minister Ellie Reeves, the celebration chair, has pleaded in an unique interview with The Independent for Sir Keir to not be in comparison with Mr Johnson.

She mentioned: “You can’t really compare Keir to Boris in terms of the rule breaking and everything else like that.

“Keir has declared the gifts and the donations and it’s important there are systems in place so there is that transparency.”

But after Labour’s assault on the previous prime minister asking donors to assist wallpaper Downing Street, there are claims that Sir Keir and his high crew are being hypocritical.

With free tickets to soccer matches and Taylor Swift live shows within the portfolio of items acquired by the prime minister in addition to designer glasses, a tirade of anger has been directed at Sir Keir with one other cupboard minister issuing a warning.

Culture secretary and former management candidate Lisa Nandy mentioned: “Labour leaders need to show they do not lead different lives to the public.”

Even Labour Together – the professional Sir Keir group that acquired him elected chief – has warned that “Labour is on trial” with voters as Sir Keir’s rankings have taken successful within the polls lower than three months after successful energy.

One situation has been Sir Keir accepting a field for Arsenal’s house matches as a result of he can not use his season tickets on the terraces.

Ms Reeves defended the prime minister: “The tickets for Arsenal, for example. If he was to go sit in the stands, I think the cost, in terms of having all of the personal protection  officers there was, ends up being far more than him being in this box.”

Some have raised Sir Keir’s resolution, together with chancellor Rachel Reeves, to withdraw winter gasoline allowance from 10 million pensioners – placing hundreds vulnerable to dying from the chilly this winter in response to Labour’s personal analysis.

It has additionally been famous that whereas Sir Keir has taken an austere method to folks’s non-public lives in desirous to ban folks smoking in beer gardens, he seems to be prepared to just accept items for main occasions.

Political opponents are circling, with Nigel Farage joking on stage on the Reform UK convention in Birmingham that he had paid for his glasses.

The controversy blew up after it emerged that Lord Alli, an in depth pal of Sir Keir’s controversial chief of employees, Sue Gray, had paid £5,000 for garments for his spouse Victoria. He additionally gave £20,000 for lodging for Sir Keir whereas he was campaigning.

In complete, seven cupboard ministers have benefited from Lord Alli’s generosity and he was handed a short lived safety cross to enter Downing Street after the election victory. While the cross is not obtainable to him it has been claimed that Lord Alli nonetheless attends cupboard conferences though he’s not a minister.

On Lord Alli, Ms Reeves mentioned: “Waheed has been a Labour peer for 20 years. He’s highly respected, both within the party and across parties.

“He did a huge amount of work for the party on fundraising, for example, for the general election. He’s got a long, long history within our party.”

Just earlier than the convention, Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves introduced they’d not take donations for garments after it emerged the deputy prime minister and chancellor had each taken cash for outfits and put them down as “office expenses”.

But the choice doesn’t appear to have ended the issues over the quantity of freebies ministers are receiving, notably the prime minister.

Sir Keir’s items totalled two-and-a-half occasions greater than the subsequent MP, Labour chief of the Commons Lucy Powell.

Baroness Harman, the previous deputy Labour chief, has additionally waded into the row, saying that Sir Keir ought to cease making an attempt to “justify” accepting items as it’s “making things worse”.

One situation dealing with Labour is the cost of hypocrisy after they’d accused the Tories of greed when Boris Johnson requested for assist from a donor for wallpaper for Downing Street.

The political harm has been underlined in focus teams for the More in Common suppose tank amongst Labour voters.

A Labour voter in Rochdale, Ayyaz, informed the main target group: “Starmer has been given gifts of £100,000 or something like that. So these big politicians, they don’t have a clue. They are on salaries of £180,000 or whatever it is. They do not have an idea of what the common man or the common woman lives by.”

Another Labour voter, Sarah, mentioned: “His wife has been lapping up the new clothes, I don’t know what he’s got out of it, maybe a suit and a tie, but they have obviously been getting lots of gifts – and he’s on like 200 grand anyway. So the point is, why is he taking gifts?”