Keir Starmer ‘hoodwinked’ Brits in TV clips filmed at donor’s flat
Keir Starmer has been accused of trying to ‘hoodwink’ Brits in addresses to the nation filmed at a Labour donor’s £18million penthouse.
The PM’s woes over freebies have deepened after it emerged that he used a luxury property owned by Lord Alli for crucial TV moments.
But the backdrop appears to have been ‘dressed’ to give the impression it was Sir Keir’s own home.
One statement – a response to Boris Johnson‘s Covid announcement at Christmas 2021 – includes a family photo with wife Victoria and their two children on shelves behind the then-Opposition leader.
There are also festive cards and coffee table books artfully stacked against the stylish decor.
A televised speech expressing sadness at the death of the Queen in 2022 also seems to have been filmed in the same place.
That featured an Obama book and homely ornaments on the shelves.
Keir Starmer’s response to Boris Johnson’s Covid announcement at Christmas 2021 includes a family photo with wife Victoria and their two children on shelves behind the then-Opposition leader
A televised speech expressing sadness at the death of the Queen in 2022 also seems to have been filmed in the same place
Tories complained that the images created the impression, especially given the ‘sticking to the rules’ message being delivered in 2021, that the video was shot in his family home in Kentish Town, north London.
However, the clip was actually shot in the same £18million flat into which the Labour leader and his family moved into during this year’s election campaign.
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick said: ‘After years of Starmer’s piety, it looks like Mr Rules was trying to hoodwink the country all along.
‘He would have been the first to call for this to be investigated if the shoe was on the other foot – it’s only right that equal scrutiny applies.’
Tory MP Dr Kieran Mullan added: ‘Starmer says he is ‘Mr honesty and integrity’. If that was not his home, then he has apparently lied to the public.
‘Whether you say ‘this is my home’ or put up pictures to that effect, it’s a lie. It’s a visual lie.’
No 10 sources last night said the Labour leader was not living at Lord Alli’s at the time the 2021 clip, later broadcast on national TV, was filmed.
They insisted no social distancing guidance in place at the time was breached but did not offer an explanation as to why he did not film the address in his own home.
Asked if the PM was completely confident that no lockdown rules were broken at the time, his press secretary replied: ‘Correct.’
Donations and support worth more than £300 are meant to be declared on the MP register.
But there is no entry for Sir Keir explicitly referring to use of the flat apart from the £20,000 listed for ‘accommodation’ during the election campaign.
In a tetchy interviews during his visit to New York last night, the PM explained that stay by arguing his son needed somewhere to study for his GCSEs in peace.
He urged people to recognise there was a ‘human story’, repeatedly stressing that no money had ‘changed hands’ under the arrangement.
In the 2021 clip, Sir Keir said it ‘doesn’t stack up’ that not enough was known about the Omicron variant. Mr Johnson had activated Plan B, requiring face masks in most public places and on public transport, guidance that office workers should work from home and the requirement for a Covid passport at nightclubs and other venues.
Sir Keir added: ‘We may not be certain how dangerous it [the Omicron variant] is, but we do know lives are at risk.
Located in Convent Garden the luxury pad (Pictured: The exterior) has been a longtime hangout for Labour grandees
In a tetchy interviews during his visit to New York last night, the PM explained that stay by arguing his son needed somewhere to study for his GCSEs in peace
Lord Waheed Alli has been a long-term supporter of Labour and Sir Keir. There is no suggestion he has broken any rules
‘And again our NHS is at risk of being overwhelmed. If that happens more people will die. So we must do everything we can to protect the NHS.’
Urging people to get booster vaccination jabs, he said: ‘We must all put the national interest first and play by the rules.
‘It would be easy to let the festivities we’ve all been looking forward to divert us from our national duty – getting jabbed, wearing masks and working from home if we can, really will help prevent infections.’
He added: ‘At this time we need leadership, leadership that the country can trust.’
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘At the start of this year, Starmer promised to restore standards in public life with a “total crackdown” on cronyism.
‘In that spirit, he should now explain why he didn’t declare the use of Lord Alli’s penthouse for political purposes, and why he was not honest about passing off someone else’s house as his own.
The Tory spokesman added: ‘This appears to be an attempt to hoodwink the public into believing Keir Starmer was at home.’
