Dressed up, Dressed down

The boot is on the other foot

Just under three months into his tenure as Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer appears to have fallen foul of his own principles.

The British press is exploding with stories about Lady Starmer’s wardrobe and her husband’s readiness to accept extravagant handouts. Starmer is facing an investigation over a possible breach of parliamentary rules. The Sunday Times revealed that he accepted a £5,000 donation towards his wife’s designer clothing and personal shopper, then failed to declare this gift from major Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli in a timely fashion.

There is nothing illegal in accepting donations, but Starmer neglected to disclose it in time having sailed into election victory on a ticket of integrity. It is also not clear why the donor was given a free pass to Downing Street. As the BBC reported last month:

The Conservatives have accused Labour of “cronyism” after the Sunday Times said the peer – who has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the party – was able to access Downing Street, despite not having an official government role.

This was well before Frockgate. Have we found ourselves in a “frocks for favours” scenario, one wonders?

Yvette Cooper had a sticky interview with Kay Burley on Sky News (16 September). She failed to clarify any of these issues when questioned about David Lammy’s remark that “in some countries, there’s a substantial budget” for ministerial attire. Lines of communication appear to be non-existent in the Labour party. The Spectator reports here and includes a link to the deliciously awkward scene.

On the very same day, Lady Victoria Starmer made her London Fashion Week debut sporting a polka-dot dress and looking “every inch the fashion connoisseur” according to Tatler. What a spectacular PR blunder. This is almost wilfully tone-deaf given recent criticisms.

Frockgate has prompted discussion about other luxurious freebies which the PM has accepted while adopting a hawkish fiscal tone. A bold Guardian heading says it all: “Starmer’s £100,000 in tickets and gifts more than any other recent party leader”. When the Guardian is putting the designer boot into a Labour Prime Minister, you know things are not going well. Granny shivers in a cold bedsit, but the Starmers are taking handouts.

Steerpike has provided an excellent breakdown of some costs, revealing Starmer’s “top five freebies”. This includes £40,000 in football tickets, £4,000 in Taylor Swift tickets, £20,000 towards accommodation, £3,700 towards horse racing, and, of course, the £5,000 towards his wife’s clothing, declared late in breach of parliamentary best practice. Mumsnet, the voice of outraged Middle England, is having a field day with this one. A personal favourite out of many excoriating remarks: “Dreadful greedy man, who steals the winter fuel allowance from pensioners while feathering his own nest and protecting his pension”. Don’t mess with this Mama.

Let us revisit some footage from April 2021, where Starmer takes Boris Johnson to task for refurbishing the No. 10 flat. He accuses the Tory government of being “mired in sleaze, cronyism and scandal”. Fast-forward three years and Starmer finds himself in the midst of a controversy about the exact same issues.

About four minutes in, Starmer indulges a rhetorical flourish from his position of undaunted righteousness. Whipping himself up into a fever pitch of moral outrage, he nobly reiterates the “Nolan principles” which govern public life, accuses Boris of “cash for access”, and denounces him in no uncertain terms as a “major sleaze”.

Can I remind the Prime Minister of the Nolan principles which are meant to govern the behaviour of those in public office. They are these: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership. Instead what do we get from this Prime Minister and this conservative government? Dodgy contracts, jobs for their mates, and cash for access. And who’s at the heart of it: the Prime Minister. Major sleaze sitting there.

This has not aged well.

Starmer has warned us of a “painful” October budget, hinting at spending cuts and tax rises. The government will be forced to make “big asks” of the public. We must tighten the proverbial belt, for most of us rather more modest than Lady Victoria’s gold belt which perfectly offsets her “lovely burgundy midi dress” (Hello has more). Delivering a speech from the rose garden of Downing Street on 27 August, Starmer looks mildly pained and encourages us with an air of moral gravity to “accept short-term pain for long-term good. The difficult trade-off for the genuine solution”. But don’t worry, he does know that “after all you have been through”, this is “difficult to hear”. The viewer feels like a naughty toddler being gently put to rights by an overworked schoolteacher.

Against this backdrop, the optics are terrible (even with designer glasses paid for by a Labour donor). Starmer has always painted himself as a serious public servant, morally above Tory cronyism. After all, his manifesto promised “the highest standards of integrity and honesty”. Accepting large numbers of freebies is comically at odds with this, especially when they fly under the radar.

Cut your coat according to your cloth, Keir.