Yvette Cooper struggled to explain why her colleague David Lammy suggested the prime minister’s wife should get her clothes paid for by the taxpayer on Sunday.
PM Keir Starmer is under pressure after he reportedly breached parliamentary rules and failed to initially declare that Labour donor Lord Alli bought clothes for his wife Victoria.
As he tried to defend his boss, foreign secretary Lammy told the BBC over the weekend that other countries provide their political leaders – and their partners – a publicly-funded budget for clothes.
He said: “The truth is that successive prime ministers, unless you’re a billionaire like the last one, do rely on political donations so they can look their best.”
But his colleague Cooper struggled to explain why Lammy thought this was an appropriate response when questioned on Sky News the following day.
Presenter Kay Burley asked the home secretary: “Do you think the taxpayer should pay for Lady Starmer’s clothes?”
“No of course not, that’s not the way we do things in this country,” Cooper replied. “I think this is a political donation and I don’t know the details of the donation, but donations are always declared in the proper way.”
Burley asked: “The foreign secretary misspoke when he said that?”
Cooper, looking confused, stammered: “I think he was talking about arrangements in the US, I don’t think there’s any difference.”
The Sky News presenter replied: “I think he was suggesting it should be considered for the UK taxpayer to potentially pay for her clothing, as is similarly done in the US.”
Cooper paused, before saying: “Well no, we are a very different country to the US, and I think probably, you know, that’s something we all recognise – huge differences between different countries and the arrangements we have.
“I think it’s probably a very good thing I think sometimes that our politics is very different from the US politics!”
Millionaire businessman Lord Alli previously donated a total of £500,000 to Labour and £16,200-worth of “work clothing” to Starmer.
The government was then embroiled in a sleaze row when it was revealed Alli briefly enjoyed a No.10 security pass after Labour won the election – that’s a privilege normally restricted to political advisers, civil servants the immediate families of the PM and the chancellor.