In politics, there are few deadlier charges than that of hypocrisy. It’s one that Labour is facing as Keir Starmer’s fondness for freebies comes under scrutiny.
The story began with the revelation that the Prime Minister failed to declare £5,000 of clothes donated to his wife by the Labour peer and fixer Waheed Alli. Starmer – who assailed Boris Johnson over “wallpapergate” in the Commons in 2021 – has insisted that his team “reached out proactively” to the parliamentary authorities (the parliamentary standards commissioner has rejected Conservative demands to open an investigation).
But attention has now turned to Starmer’s long-running enjoyment of hospitality. The Guardian calculates that he has now declared £100,000 worth of free tickets and gifts – clothing, glasses, Arsenal, Taylor Swift, Coldplay – more than any other major party leader in recent times.
It’s wrong, as some commentators have, to describe this as a “scandal”. First, there is no suggestion that any rules were broken. Second, there is no evidence that any improper influence was sought or received by donors. (Johnson, by contrast, failed both of these tests.)
But this doesn’t mean there isn’t a political problem for Labour. The first issue, as I noted, is that of hypocrisy: when a leader’s actions conflict with their chosen image. Think of the ridicule heaped on the eco-friendly David Cameron in 2006 after it was revealed that a car followed behind him with his briefcase when he cycled to work.
As opposition leader, Starmer delighted in challenging Rishi Sunak over his wife’s former non-dom status and his fondness for private jets. The government made much of its recent decision to cancel a £40m VIP helicopter contract used by the former prime minister. This is all well and good, but it naturally prompts greater scrutiny of Starmer’s own financial affairs.
The second issue is austerity (one reason the Labour leader’s attacks on his Conservative opponents often resonated). A government imposing tax rises or spending cuts will always be vulnerable to the charge that it’s living the high life. That applies to Labour now as it removes winter fuel payments from all but the poorest pensioners. “He’s taking £300 off pensioners and taking £76,000 of freebies,” declared Sky News’s Kay Burley to immigration minister Angela Eagle yesterday.
We know that the government didn’t carry out an impact assessment of the winter fuel cuts. But what some in Labour are asking is whether it did a political impact assessment. Cuts to benefits – emotive and easily understood – will always have spill-over effects. While some of George Osborne’s austerity measures were highly popular (such as the two-child benefit limit), the removal of winter fuel payments is a relatively unpopular one.
It all adds to the sense that this government is struggling to tell a positive story about itself. There has been no shortage of policy activity: planning reform, the launch of GB Energy, public ownership of the railways and buses, workers’ rights and the settling of the public sector pay disputes. But what is the project that all of this collectively amounts to? Explaining that is one of the defining tasks for Labour at its conference.
In my interview with Wes Streeting – one of Labour’s best communicators – he says of the Conservatives: “It feels like being the fire brigade hosing down the house while the arsonists are heckling you for not doing a good enough job.”
It’s a good line and one that Labour would be wise to make greater use of. But as the party is learning, one of the biggest challenges in government is avoiding setting fire to yourself.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here.
[See also: Wes Streeting: “I don’t want to be the fun police”]
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