The UK is blazing the trail for sugar babies, with Keir Starmer making history as the country’s first ever findom prime minister.
In total, Starmer has declared accepting over £100,000 worth of gifts – more than any other recent major party leader.
Notably, former ASOS chairman and House of Lords peer Waheed Alli gifted Starmer “work clothing” worth £12,000, accommodation valued at more than £20,000, and glasses valued at £2,485. In total, Lord Alli has donated £500,000 to Labour since 2020.
In addition, the prime minister has accepted almost 40 sets of free tickets during his time as Labour leader, mostly to football matches, but also £4,000 of hospitality at a Taylor Swift concert and £698 of Coldplay tickets in Manchester.
Starmer has previously insisted his acceptance of hospitality is because of his complex security requirements. “If I don’t accept a gift of hospitality, I can’t go to a game. You could say: ‘Well, bad luck’ […] But, you know, never going to an Arsenal game again because I can’t accept hospitality is pushing it a bit far,” he said. To be clear, hospitality tickets can be bought for around £800 (which would still be affordable, at least occasionally, on the Prime Minister’s £160,000 salary).
When asked about Starmer’s love of freebies during an interview with Times Radio on Tuesday, Labour MP Angela Eagle said: “I’m afraid I’m not responsible for decisions the prime minister makes […] The prime minister has had his say on that […] next time you interview him, you could ask him yourself. I don’t have an opinion.”
“Angela Rayner had an opinion when Boris Johnson was getting money from donors…now you’ve got someone who has a luxury glasses habit who’s taking money from pensioners.”
“Okay you’ve had your rant.”
Dame @AngelaEagle avoids answering questions on the PM’s new glasses. pic.twitter.com/p8QTtCqiIW
— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) September 17, 2024
By contrast, other leaders have not been quite as eager to accept gifts. Jeremy Corbyn took Glastonbury tickets worth about £450 two years in a row for a family member, but he otherwise did not accept hospitality as Labour leader from 2015 to 2020. In addition, while working for the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers in the 1970s, employees of a Savile Row tailor offered to make him a suit – Corbyn declined on the grounds that accepting the offer would amount to “corruption”.
Between 2010 and 2015, Ed Miliband declared BA upgrades on a flight to South Africa worth up to £5,866 and Paralympic tickets of unknown value.
David Cameron got a discount from a personal trainer worth £4,475 as he limbered up for the election in 2010, while Tory donor Michael Farmer paid for his tickets to the party’s summer event in 2009 at a cost of £1,600, while another Black and White ball bash was covered by Prince Rupert Loewenstein. He also attended the final of the Rugby World Cup in Paris as a guest of the Rugby Football Union, but the cost was undeclared.
Boris Johnson accepted several free holidays, including a £15,000 holiday to St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean from donor David Ross. He also accepted a free holiday from former MP Zac Goldsmith, but the cost was never declared as it was given in a “personal capacity”.
