Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.
The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.
Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.
“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.
“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”
Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.
She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.
“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”
She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.
“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.
“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”
Read more:
Everything you need to know about Sir Keir’s freebies
Westminister Accounts: Search for your MP
She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.
“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.
“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”
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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.
The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.
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The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.
Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.
Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.
The row risks overshadowing the buoyant mood of the first party conference Labour has held while in government for 15 years.
Diane Abbott, a veteran Labour MP and outspoken critic of Sir Keir, today accused the party of being “in the pockets of millionaires”.
Referencing comments made by a Labour minister, Ms Abbott said on X: “Ellie Reeves MP says ‘Labour’s GE victory was only possible because under Keir’s leadership we changed the party’.
“Changed it into an organisation whose leaders are in the pocket of millionaires?”.
‘Really transparent’
House of Commons leader Lucy Powell said Sir Keir will be getting appropriate advice as prime minister on whether football hospitality he has been receiving may create a conflict of interest as the Labour government plans to introduce an independent football regulator.
She told Sky News earlier today that Sir Keir, Ms Rayner and Ms Reeves had been “really transparent” about the gift and freebies received.
“That’s why we’re even talking about it, because they’ve declared it,” she said.
Lucy Powell
Speaking of the estimated £40,289 worth of donations she received, Ms Powell said they were “not freebies”.
She said the “absolute vast majority” were from her time as the shadow culture secretary when she was invited to “official engagements” showcasing industry or sporting events.
“We are determined to be a government of service, that is what we are about,” the Commons leader said, adding her party had taken “quick steps to improve standards of MPs”, including tightening rules about their outside earnings.
Asked about the prime minister’s decision to stop accepting clothing donations but not football hospitality, Ms Powell said the Labour leader would find it a struggle to sit in the stand as an ordinary fan due to his position.
“He’s focused on the job of being prime minister, of trying to change this country for the better, that is his absolute primary focus,” she said.
“He very occasionally switches off from that to watch the odd Arsenal game and that’s about the only time he does,” Ms Powell added.
