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).
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