Starmer defends £20,000 lodging donation ‘so son might examine for GCSEs’

Keir Starmer has defended accepting £20,000 in donations for accommodation – claiming his son needed somewhere to revise for his GCSEs.

The PM said his family home was besieged by journalists during the General Election campaign. He has come in for criticism over his acceptance of donations from Labour peer Lord Alli, who also paid for clothes for Mr Starmer and his wife Victoria.

The PM shot back that he’s “not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong” and the freebies did not “cost the taxpayer a penny”. But he signalled he could continue to accept hospitality from donors, saying that it was a matter of “judgment” for individual MPs.

Mr Starmer said the transition to Downing Street had been “really difficult” for his two children, who were previously raised in North London. He said that around £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli for unspecified accommodation was for his teenage son to study for exams in a “peaceful” atmosphere.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “My boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs. I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams, without being disturbed.

“We have lots of journalists outside our house where we live and I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine. But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life – I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.

“Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that. I took that up and it was the right thing to do.” Asked whether he would like to apologise for the row, he told LBC: “I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.”

The Prime Minister also opened up about life inside Number 10 following Labour’s takeover in July. “It has been tough for the kids. I’m not pleading a special case but they’re 16 and 13,” he said. “That’s a very important time.”

Asked whether he would rule out accepting such gifts in the future, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain : “I think that’s a matter of judgment. There has to be good reason.”