Are you listening ‘free gear Keir’? Commons sleaze watchdog urges MPs to cease taking freebies warning it undermines ‘belief’

Parliament’s sleaze watchdog has suggested MPs should stop taking freebies in order to restore trust with voters.

Daniel Greenberg, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, urged politicians to ‘constantly benchmark’ their actions against how they will be viewed by the public.

After nearly three years in his role investigating sleaze rows, Mr Greenberg warned that voters’ trust in MPs remains a ‘serious problem’.

He said there had not been a ‘radical change’ since Labour came to power in July 2024, despite Sir Keir Starmer‘s pre-election promise to ‘end the chaos of sleaze’. 

The Prime Minister’s first few months in power were dominated by Labour’s ‘freebies’ row, when he and other top ministers faced intense scrutiny over gifts they received.

Amid the scandal, which saw him dubbed ‘free gear Keir’, the PM was forced to pay back £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality – including Taylor Swift tickets.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves vowed to no longer accept free tickets after she was criticised for taking a family member to see Sabrina Carpenter without paying.

Sir Keir, Ms Reeves and then-deputy PM Angela Rayner also pledged to no longer accept free clothing, after it was revealed donors were funding their wardrobes.

Daniel Greenberg said there had not been a ‘radical change’ since Labour came to power in July 2024, despite Sir Keir Starmer ‘s pre-election promise to ‘end the chaos of sleaze’

Labour’s ‘freebies’ row came after top ministers – including Sir Keir – accepted lavish gifts from party donor Lord Alli

But the PM continues to accept free tickets to Arsenal matches, having argued he cannot use his normal seats in the stands due to security concerns. 

In an interview with Times Radio, Mr Greenberg said it was important the House of Commons ‘self-regulates’ and stressed it was not for him to tell MPs how to act.

But he suggested politicians should voluntarily decide to not accept hospitality and gifts, if taking freebies would lead voters to question their ‘integrity’.

‘I would like to think that members would constantly benchmark for themselves everything they do against the simple test,’ he said.

‘Does this increase the level of trust between me and the public, or does it decrease it?

‘So if a gambling company offers me, as an MP, they offer me tickets to Wimbledon. I would like to think an MP would say to herself or himself, ‘how does this relate to trust?’

‘If I take these tickets, will that make people think that I’m more independent? Would it make them think that I’ve got greater integrity and selflessness, which is underpinning trust? Or will it damage that perception?

‘I think it’s terribly important that the House self-regulates. It’s not for me ever to tell MPs, ‘you should do this, you shouldn’t do that’.

‘I think my role is to constantly remind them of the things they want to think about in deciding for themselves their own actions.’

Asked why MPs should not simply be banned from accepting gifts, Mr Greenberg added: ‘I think if an MP decided to say for themselves that they weren’t going to accept any hospitality, or they weren’t going to accept any gifts.

‘If they decided to say that for themselves and they felt that was likely significantly to increase the level of trust between them and their constituents.

‘That they could go to their constituents and say, ‘you can be sure nobody is buying my favour, because I don’t take gifts, I don’t take hospitality’.

‘If an MP felt that was the appropriate thing to do. I would certainly understand why they did it.’

Mr Greenberg acknowledged that MPs had failed to treat the 2024 general election as a ‘fresh start’, following a series of ‘sleaze’ rows in the previous parliament.

‘I would not say there has been a radical change,’ he added. ‘I would gauge that by the kind of issues that I’m asked to investigate are very similar to the ones I was looking at before.

‘One thing that I think is hopeful, and this is a change, more and more MPs are coming for advice in advance.

‘Like most regulators, I would so much prefer to help raise and support good standards than sit there waiting for things to go wrong and then punish them.

‘But overall, has there been a radical, clear change in levels of public trust based on change of clear change of behaviour? I honestly can’t say that there has.’