LABOUR have looked to put the freebies row to bed at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool – seen as a distraction for what was supposed to be a largely celebratory affair after July’s landslide General Election win.
It all kicked off with the revelation that Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria accepted gifts, including clothing, from prominent Labour donor and peer Lord Alli.
The Prime Minister alone has accepted around £39,000 from Lord Alli since December 2019.
That’s before we get to his deputy, Angela Rayner, who has herself been criticised for accepting clothes and staying in a flat owned by Lord Alli while on holiday in New York.
Labour figures and prominent members like Gary Neville yesterday, have looked to bat away the scrutiny - some even suggesting hypocrisy on the part of the media and that the whole thing has been a bit overblown.
But many young Labour members I have spoken with don’t agree.
One young Labour member told The National that the whole freebies row has proven what many – especially on the left of the party – have worried about Starmer.
“Which is that he’s really no different to the Tories,” he added.
“He promised change and went on about how Tory gifts were signs of sleaze and corruption – he’s turned on a dime the moment he’s got into power which is just another example of his dishonesty.”
The Labour member added that the Prime Minister’s position on Gaza has been a “disgrace since the beginning”.
“The fact he’s still not able to openly call out Israel for literal war crimes after they once again carried out attacks within a sovereign nation’s border with the pagers,” he added.
“The large donors are just yet another example that shows how part of the establishment Starmer is. A Labour leader is supposed to defend workers against capital, not take donations from capital.”
Lauren Harper, a youth representative on the Scottish Executive Committee, told The National that she decided not to attend conference this year.
“Having just whipped his MPs to make their elderly constituents unable to heat their homes, Keir Starmer is now being portrayed by the Labour Right as being so hard done by that he cannot afford to dress himself,” she said.
“This would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting. The cash for clothes scandal highlights the bigger issue of a PM who is firmly in the pockets of lobbyists when he should be standing up for the vulnerable elderly and low paid precarious workers.”
Another Scottish Labour member told The National that this week’s Labour conference will be a “tightly stage-managed affair with little room for members”.
He added, however, that there will be “plenty of space allotted to corporate sponsorships”.
“At last year’s conference, business delegates accounted for a third of conference attendees. Trade unionists, on the other hand, accounted for just 3%. This year, this trend has only escalated – as ‘freebiegate’ and the conference agenda illustrate.”
The Labour member added: “The cabinet’s apparent dependence on the private wealth of Britain's ruling class should not be seen in isolation from the government’s refusal to tax wealth in order to lift the 2-child cap or retain the winter fuel allowance. The two are intrinsically related.
“The men buying Keir Starmer’s glasses or his wife’s clothes are exactly the people who the government has shied away from asking to pay their fair share. That’s hardly a surprise now we know the access these individuals have to our politicians.”
The Labour Party have been approached for comment.
