'I wasn't going to let him fail' - Starmer defends accepting £20,000 donation to help son with GCSEs

Sir Keir Starmer accepted a £20,000 donation for the use of a flat during the election after promising his family he would protect them.

The prime minister's register of interests shows a declaration for accommodation provided by Lord Waheed Alli to the value of £20,437.28 from 29 May to 13 July this year. The election was called on 22 May.

Sir Keir said in a Sky News interview on Wednesday he had "promised" his 16-year-old son he could get to his school and sit his exams without being disturbed.

Politics latest: Tetchy PM hits back at questions over donations

Speaking to Sky News, the prime minister said he had made a pledge to his wife, son and daughter that he would "protect them".

Sir Keir told political editor Beth Rigby that when the election was called ahead of the exam period, it meant there were "a lot of journalists" and also protesters "outside my front door".

At this point the Labour leader told his son, who is 16, they would find somewhere he could "just study and get to school and back without having to go through all of that".

Sir Keir says it was after this that "someone" offered to make a flat "available" for the junior Starmer - but claimed "no money exchanged hands".

"I wasn't going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside the front door", the father of two added.

Will donation rules be changed?

Challenged on whether he was being defensive about the decision - which has been criticised when the current government is expected to raise taxes in the upcoming budget - Sir Keir repeated it was "important" to explain that "behind some of these numbers is a human story".

When asked whether this was also the case for the thousands of pounds worth of clothes, hospitality, sports and music tickets, Sir Keir said it was a judgement call to be made by each MP on whether to accept donations.

However, he claimed his use of the directors' box at Arsenal - where he regularly attends - was offered by the club, and he uses it to avoid increasing taxpayer spending on his security.

He also repeated his stance that he would no longer accept donations for clothing.

The prime minister declined to say whether he would ban MPs accepting such donations.

Read more:
Who is Lord Waheed Alli?
PM will no longer accept donations for clothes
Why the donations are proving controversial
PM 'sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Sir Keir has come under fire for accepting two and a half times more donations than any other MP after being highly critical of the Conservatives accepting donations.

Lord Alli, 59, a former chair of online fashion giant Asos, is his largest personal donor.

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The TV executive, who has donated to the party for 20 years, has become the focus of Labour's conference in Liverpool due to the amount he has donated to Sir Keir.

Of £107,000 worth of gifts and hospitality handed to Sir Keir since December 2019, Lord Alli gave him the equivalent of £39,122.

He has also donated to other Labour MPs, including £14,000 for work events to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and he let Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner stay at his New York home over New Year's Eve.

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Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates bumped into Lord Alli at the Labour conference on Tuesday and asked if he regrets making any of the donations.

However, the peer put his hand up to the phone she was filming him on and turned away, refusing to speak.
The previous day, he told another Sky News correspondent: "Please don't - this is not very nice."