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UK deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has refused to say whether an opaque £3,550 donation from Lord Waheed Alli in June was free clothing, despite parliamentary rules saying the nature of any such donations “in kind” should be declared.
Alli, a wealthy Labour peer and the party’s head of fundraising, is in the spotlight after revelations that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer initially failed to declare clothing gifts worth £16,200 from the media tycoon.
Rayner is one of seven cabinet ministers that received donations and gifts from Alli in the run-up to the July 4 general election.
She has taken four donations from the entrepreneur in the past year, including £8,500 last October, £8,250 in March and £900 in April, all of which were declared as money “to support me in my capacity as deputy leader of the Labour party”.
A fourth donation, made in June from Alli to Rayner, amounting to £3,550 was logged differently as a “donation in kind for undertaking parliamentary duties”.
Asked what the total of £20,300 in donations consisted of — and whether they included clothing — Rayner’s team refused to comment.
The Labour press office also refused to comment.
Rayner’s failure to provide details about the £3,550 donation, in particular, raises questions over whether it was properly declared. The parliamentary code states that if a member received a “donation in kind”, they should provide information on both the value and nature of the donation.
Andrew Griffith, Conservative shadow science and technology secretary, said: “Far from serving the public, Labour politicians seem to have been helping themselves. It’s time that Angela Rayner came clear about whether or not she took freebie frocks from Lord Alli — which are hardly an essential part of Parliamentary duties.”
Alli’s £900 donation to Rayner came in April, the same month that the tycoon gave clothing to Starmer, then leader of the opposition.
The Financial Times revealed on Wednesday that Starmer initially recorded a donation from Alli worth £16,200 in the register under the category of “any other support”, and described it as “private support for the office of the leader of the opposition”.
The following month, he altered his entry, shifting Alli’s donation to the separate category of “gifts, benefits and hospitality’” and disclosed, for the first time, that it was: “work clothing, value £16,200”.
The parliamentary code states that members “should not” record in the register “donations or gifts which are intended to provide personal benefit” under the category of “any other support”, and that “gifts such as clothing or jewellery” should be recorded as gifts, with information provided on their nature and value.
Starmer changed the record after he was informed by officials that his initial entry ran counter to the rules set out in the MPs’ code of conduct.
The prime minister last week belatedly declared a donation from Alli of £5,000 of clothing given to his wife after his team checked whether it needed to be in the register.
Starmer’s free clothing, along with free trips to football matches and pop concerts, has attracted widespread media attention, partly because of his promise to “turn the page” after years of Conservative scandals.
Rayner has also taken Alli’s hospitality by staying at a Manhattan apartment for a “personal holiday” over the most recent New Year. She registered £1,250 for five days in a New York apartment from December 29, 2023 to January 02, 2024.