Londoner’s Diary
Will Keir Starmer’s penchant for freebies continue now that he is prime minister? The first MPs’ Register of Interests for the new parliament was released on Friday, where members must list any donations, gifts and hospitality they have received.
It shows that Sir Keir received four hospitality tickets worth £4,000 to see Taylor Swift perform at the O2 in June. The VIP seats came courtesy of the Premier League, who are no doubt pleased to have a football-mad PM. In the last year Starmer has accepted over £18,500 worth of free tickets to see his beloved Arsenal play.
Meanwhile British clothing brand ME+EM was pronounced “the go-to label” for Labour women this summer after Victoria Starmer and Angela Rayner wore an assortment of their power suits and dresses. It turns out that the brand sent Rayner £2,230 worth of free clothes at the end of June.
Reform leader Nigel Farage is known for living the good life and has various income streams to supplement his MP’s salary. As well as being paid £97,928 a month by GB News, Farage makes around £16,000 a month by recording personalised video messages on Cameo. He has also revealed that he is a member of the exclusive club 5 Hertford Street, the Tory watering hole beloved by Nadine Dorries and Liz Truss.
Farage isn’t the only one with a side hustle; Labour MP Jess Phillips received £8,364 from Sky for co-presenting the Electoral Dysfunction podcast with journalist Beth Rigby and former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson. Philips registered 1.5 hours of work a week for three months, meaning she made a cool £428 an hour.
Some things never change: Rishi Sunak’s favourite way to get around the country was taken care of through the election campaign by Tory donor Richard Harpin, who provided the outgoing PM with over £11,500 worth of helicopter flights.
