UK PM pays back over $11k in gifts including Taylor Swift tickets following donations row
The UK Prime Minster has paid back nearly $12,000 worth of gifts, including Taylor Swift concert tickets, following a row over donations.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has paid back over £6,000 ($11,600) worth of gifts, including half a dozen Taylor Swift concert tickets, after his party received backlash over donations.
The prime minister – who was sworn into the top job three months ago – and senior figures in the Labour Party have faced weeks of criticism after accepting freebies from wealthy donors.
Following the backlash, Downing Street confirmed on Wednesday Mr Starmer has decided to cover the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets from Universal Music Group worth over £2,800 ($5,000) as well as four horse racing tickets worth almost £2,000 ($3,900).
He is also paying for two football tickets worth almost £600 ($1,200) and an £839 ($1,600) clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer admired by his wife.
All of the donations were within parliament’s rules but Mr Starmer has faced accusations of hypocrisy since the furore comes as he is asking ordinary Britons to tighten their belts.
The Prime Ministeralso announced an overhaul of hospitality rules for government ministers to try to ensure better transparency around what is accepted.
“The prime minister has commissioned a new set of principles on gifts and hospitality to be published as part of the updated ministerial code,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“Ahead of the publication of the new code, the prime minister has paid for several entries on his own register. This will appear in the next register of members’ interests.”
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday where he met senior European Union leaders, Mr Starmer said “some principles of general application” were needed surrounding gifts.
“I took the position that until the principles are in place it was right for me to make those repayments,” he told reporters.
A Conservative spokesman claimed Mr Starmer had only paid for the gifts because his “back is against the wall”, according to the BBC.
The party also questioned why other cabinet ministers have not paid back gifts.
It comes as the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner declared she received £836 ($1,600) for a visit to a DJ booth in Ibiza.
The row over the gifts overshadowed the run-up to Labour’s annual conference last month, its first since the centre-left party returned to power in July after 14 years in opposition.
Particular scrutiny has fallen on donations by Waheed Alli, a Labour member of the House of Lords, the UK parliament’s upper chamber.
Starmer has accepted clothing, glasses and accommodation from Mr Alli in recent months.
The Lords standards watchdog announced on Wednesday that it is investigating Mr Alli over possible breaches of parliamentary rules surrounding the declaration of interests.
When asked about the probe, Mr Starmer said: “I’m not going to comment on Lord Alli. The investigation will run its course.”
Starmer kicks off long road to EU ‘reset’
During his visit to Brussels on Wednesday, Mr Starmer addressed his much-vaunted “reset” with the EU, conceding it won’t be easy.
Starmer held talks with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen as his Labour government seeks a fresh start with the 27-nation bloc after ousting the Conservatives in July.
The two leaders agreed to start holding regular summits – with the first one scheduled for the first half of next year – as they look for areas where they could step up co-operation.
Starmer listed growth policies, climate change, energy security and illegal migration as potential broad domains for agreement.
But Starmer offered few details on how to improve the painstakingly negotiated deals governing ties since the UK quit the bloc.
“Today was as much about turning the page on the old way of doing these negotiations and starting a different way of doing it, a much more constructive way of doing it,” Starmer said.
“It doesn’t mean the challenges aren’t there. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.”
The British leader, who voted in the 2016 referendum to remain in the EU, has insisted his reset will not mean reversing Brexit, which remains a politically toxic subject in the UK.
He reiterated his longstanding “red lines”, including not returning to freedom of movement, which led him to pour cold water on an EU proposal for a “youth mobility scheme”.
“There will be no return to freedom of movement, no return to the customs union, no return to the single market,” he said.
Von der Leyen, who also met Mr Starmer during last month’s UN General Assembly, said the tumult in the world highlighted the need for the neighbours to work together.
“In these very uncertain times, like-minded partners like us must co-operate more closely,” she told Mr Starmer.
“We should explore the scope for more co-operation while we focus on the full and faithful implementation” of the existing deals, she said.
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