KEIR Starmer has claimed that it is “important” to look at a “human story” behind a donation as he defended the use of accommodation for his son to study for his GCSEs during the election campaign.
Following the reporting of the donation, Starmer told Sky News that he was not going to “let my son fail or not do well” in his exams while journalists were outside the family home in north London.
He has previously insisted that he has not done “anything wrong” and said he would not apologise for taking the gift.
Speaking to Sky News from New York City, where he is attending the UN General Assembly, Starmer said that the election had been called “not when we expected it”.
He added: “My son happened to be in the middle of his GCSEs.
“That means there are a lot of journalists outside the front door and in the street.”
The Prime Minister said that was “hard to navigate when you’re concentrating on GCSEs”, as his 16-year-old son was at the time.
Starmer added: “I said, ‘we’re going to get you out of here and get you somewhere where you can just study and get to school and back without having to go through all of that’.
“And that’s when someone says, well, in which case I can make this flat available to you.
“It’s safe, secure, he can get on.”
The Prime Minister later went on: “I do think sometimes it’s important just to look behind the number and say, ‘what was the human story behind’”.
“I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside,” he added.
Starmer (above) was also asked about donations in a series of interviews following his speech to the Labour Party annual conference that were broadcast on Wednesday morning.
He said that about £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli for unspecified accommodation was for his teenager to study for exams in a “peaceful” atmosphere.
Asked whether he would like to apologise for the row, he told LBC: “I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.”
The row over declarations by MPs and senior ministers overshadowed the Labour conference, with criticism aimed at both the PM and his ministers for accepting luxury gifts from wealthy donors while announcing cuts to Winter Fuel Payments.
Starmer and other senior ministers were previously forced to say they would no longer take donations for clothing now they are in government, but left the door open to receiving more access to events, such as the £4000 worth of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert he accepted from the Premier League.
