Keir Starmer insisted he was not going to ‘let my son fail’ GCSEs today as he defended staying in a millionaire donor’s flat during the election campaign.
In a tetchy interview during his visit to New York this evening, the PM insisted his teenager needed somewhere to study in peace in the run-up to polling day.
He urged people to recognise there was a ‘human story’, repeatedly stressing that no money had ‘changed hands’ under the arrangement.
The property is reported to have been an £18million penthouse in the Covent Garden area of London, owned by Labour‘s Lord Alli.
Claims have also emerged that Sir Keir used the flat to film a party political broadcast in Christmas 2021.
Tories said ministers thought rules ‘don’t apply to them’ and the government was all about ‘self-service’.
The premier has been accused of hypocrisy over gifts after Labour was highly critical of Boris Johnson and other Tories when they were in power.
Speaking to Sky News from New York City, where he is attending the UN General Assembly, Sir Keir said that the election had been called ‘not when we expected it’.
‘My son happened to be in the middle of his GCSEs,’ he added.
‘That means there are a lot of journalists outside the front door and in the street.’
He said he is ‘not complaining’, but ‘if you’re 13, as my girl is, if you’re 16 as my boy is, that’s quite hard to navigate when you’re concentrating on GCSEs,’ he said.
Sir Keir explained: ‘I said, ‘we’re going to get you out of here and get you somewhere where you can just study and get to school and back without having to go through all of that’.
‘And that’s when someone says, well, in which case I can make this flat available to you.
‘It’s safe, secure, he can get on.’
The PM later went on: ‘I do think sometimes it’s important just to look behind the number and say, ‘what was the human story behind’.
‘I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside,’ he added.
In a round of interviews after his speech to party conference last night, Sir Keir said he was ‘not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong’ and the freebies did not ‘cost the taxpayer a penny’.
He said the transition to Downing Street had been ‘really difficult’ for his two children, who were previously raised in North London.
Asked about the donations, Sir Keir said that around £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli for unspecified accommodation was for his teenager to study for exams in a ‘peaceful’ atmosphere while there was intense media attention in the run-up to the election.
‘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,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘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.’
According to the MP register of interests, the accommodation from Lord Alli was valued at £20,437.28 and Sir Keir accepted it between May 29 and July 13.
However, GCSEs were taking place between May 9 and June 19.
The Tories have also raised questions about Sir Keir seemingly using Lord Alli’s London penthouse to film a political broadcast in 2021, responding to new Covid regulations.
A Conservative 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.’
Shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘This row isn’t about the preferential treatment he has given his child during their education, whilst taxing the schooling of thousands of others; nor is it about him and his wife being lavished with designer clothes whilst pensioners face the choice between heating and eating this Winter.
‘This is about Keir Starmer, and his top team, thinking the rules don’t apply to them. They have become utterly addicted to luxury clothing, holidays and services provided by their mega donor whilst expecting everyone else to tighten their belt. Why does he always think he’s a special case?
‘Labour promised to be a government of service but all they’ve offered is a government of self-service.’
The PM 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.’
The row over declarations by MPs and senior ministers had threatened to overshadow the Labour conference, with criticism aimed at both the PM and his ministers for accepting luxury gifts from wealthy donors while announcing cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
Sir Keir has said ministers will no longer take donations for clothing now they are in Government, but left the door open to receiving more access to events, such as the £4,000 worth of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert he accepted from the Premier League.
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.’
