A BBC Question Time audience member compared Keir Starmer’s freebies row to Boris Johnson’s so-called wallpapergate last night.
The PM has faced significant backlash this week after it was revealed that he has received more than £100,000 in gifts since 2019 – that’s significantly more than any other MP.
That includes tickets to see popstar Taylor Swift, seats in a corporate box to watch Arsenal and thousands of pounds-worth of clothes.
The incident has sparked major criticism, especially as the government has restricted winter fuel payments for pensioners and keeps issuing stark warnings about the state of the UK’s finances.
However, there were people in the Question Time crowd willing to stand up for Starmer.
One woman said: “In terms of gifts, corruption and potential for bribery aside, it’s quite refreshing to hear politicians being gifted things rather than charging them on public expenses.
“I think I’d much rather hear that Keir Starmer had accepted box tickets from a club that he already has a season ticket for that he pays for than – you mentioned Boris Johnson before – I’d rather he be gifted a football ticket than Boris Johnson’s wallpaper.”
Reports from 2022, when Johnson was still in office, suggested the PM’s renovation of his Downing Street flat cost £200,000 – said to include £2,260 “gold” wallpaper.
It was initially funded by a Tory donor, although Johnson reimbursed him at a later date.
Commons leader Lucy Powell said it was about transparency in parliament and that in her role as the leader of the House of Commons, she had tightened up the rules for MPs in terms of outside earnings.
She continued: “We are determined to raise those standards, raise that transparency and really eliminate that idea that there is a conflict of interest there and MPs have a different paymaster.”
Another member of the audience also said conflating the idea of receiving gifts with corruption is “far-fetched” – but he added that it is the limit of the monetary value of those gifts needs to be looked at.