Keir Starmer admits: I accepted free accommodation in £18m penthouse for my son

Keir Starmer says parents would understand that he moved into a penthouse worth more than £20,000 in rent during the general election campaign so his son could study for his GCSEs.

Keir Starmer speaks at the UN in New York. Picture: Getty Images via AFP.

Sir Keir Starmer has defended moving into an £18 million penthouse owned by a prominent Labour donor during the general election campaign, saying it was so his son could study for his GCSEs without being distracted.

The Prime Minister said the donation-in-kind was to let his family stay away from home during the election to avoid the presence of journalists and protesters outside their north London residence.

It emerged this week that Starmer was given the use of an £18 million apartment in Covent Garden, central London, owned by the Labour peer and donor Lord Alli.

The flat was used by Starmer’s family for several weeks during the general election campaign.

The donation was declared by Starmer and dated from May 29 to July 13 in the MPs’ register of member’s financial interests. It was listed as being worth £20,437.28.

Starmer defended the decision after recent criticism over other donations from Lord Alli, including clothes and glasses.

The offer of Alli’s flat was accepted to let his son study and stay away from home while sitting his GCSEs, Starmer said. He added that “any parent would have made the same decision”.

“I do think sometimes it’s important just to look behind the number and say, ‘What was the human story behind some of this?’ ” Starmer told Sky News during a trip to the United Nations in New York.

“I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside the front door.”

Starmer said there were often protesters or journalists outside his family’s home, and that he found it “worrying” for his two children.

Starmer, his wife, Victoria, and their son and daughter lived in a four-bedroom house in Kentish Town, north London, before moving into Downing Street in July.

“My wife and I promised our children we would protect them and we will,” Starmer said yesterday (Wednesday). “No money changed hands.”

The use of Alli’s flat was worth more than £20,000 - or £450 per day - but Starmer said he believed others would understand his choice.

“If people think that my decision to try to protect my son’s GCSEs was the wrong one, then they are free to do so,” Starmer said.

Asked whether he would apologise for taking so many donations, the prime minister said: “Well, look, there were no breaches of the rules or anything like that. We complied with everything. I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.”

Alli has been at the centre of the ongoing Labour donation row in recent weeks, after it was revealed he had given the prime minister and his wife thousands of pounds to pay for clothes and glasses.

It also emerged that the former Asos chairman was given a “temporary pass” granting access to Downing Street after the election, which he has now given back.

Starmer has since said that he and other senior government figures will no longer accept donations for clothes. Alli, who is worth about £200 million, also gave Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, use of his New York apartment.

Starmer batted back questions about Labour MPs receiving paid hospitality, such as tickets to Taylor Swift concerts.

In the interview with Sky News, he said: “Sky invites us to quite a lot of hospitality events.” He also told Channel 4 that donors gave money to Labour MPs or the party in different ways and for different reasons. “Sometimes it’s for supporting a particular office. It could be for any number of things,” the PM said. “The important thing is that it’s declared. And yes, there were plenty of people before the election who desperately wanted a Labour government and wanted to donate to that end, and that was their driving motivation.”

Alli’s home, used by Starmer, has three en suite bedrooms, as well as a kitchen, games room and two dressing rooms. Starmer was said to be at Alli’s flat on the night of the general election.

The Times