Electoral Dysfunction: Sir Keir Starmer should watch football on TV to end donations row, Baroness Harriet Harman says

Sir Keir Starmer should give up his current arrangements for watching football and instead watch on television, a former Labour MP and minister has said.

Baroness Harriet Harman, a host of the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast, has again criticised the prime minister and leader of her party for his actions in the ongoing freebies row.

Sir Keir has long held a season ticket to watch his chosen club, Arsenal, but since becoming prime minister, he has been sitting in the directors box.

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The cost of these arrangements are not clear – with the prime minister saying you “can’t buy a ticket”.

Baroness Harman said: “I’m looking ahead into the future, and I’m thinking really it makes more sense for him to be watching the football on the telly with his son.

“And I think that saying I want to be there with my boy I think just… it’s a problem that I can see arising because of the government’s involvement with public policy in a situation where Arsenal are very much in the game of wanting or not wanting what the government’s going to do.”

Sir Keir has pledged to introduce an independent football regulator – something clubs have vocally opposed.

Speaking to Sky News this week, the prime minister said he was invited into the box by the club and accepted the offer as it saves the taxpayer from paying for the extra security he would need if he sat in the general admission stands.

Sir Keir’s register of interests shows that he has been donated thousands of pounds worth of football tickets to watch Arsenal away games this year before becoming the country’s leader – although these were donated by the clubs hosting the Gunners.

Between 2019 and the last parliament, the Labour leader accepted more than £35,000 worth of free tickets.

Most were paid for by clubs or the Premier League, although others were contributed by other entities such as investment and engineering companies.

The level of donations accepted by the Labour leadership has been criticised by opposition politicians and annoyed those within Labour frustrated with the new government’s approach of indicating tax cuts are coming and reducing the winter fuel payment.

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The party leader has also been criticised for accepting thousands of pounds worth of clothes from Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli, as well as the use of the peer’s flat – a gift valued at £20,000 – for his son to study for school exams during the election period.

Speaking on the football tickets, Baroness Harman said: “I think the idea that he can’t go, and stand in the stands because of security, people really understand that, and therefore he was offered the directors box because it’s secure.

“The difficulty is, is that even if he carried on paying his season ticket, the directors box is worth much more.

“So people will see it as somehow the directors having access to him.”

Read more:
Dame Harman criticises Starmer over gifts
How much of the ‘change’ promised was rhetoric
Freebie row is about class, not corruption

Baroness Harman suggested Sir Keir could financially contribute to his seats in the box in some way.

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In the past year, more than 70 MPs from across the political spectrum have accepted free tickets to sporting events according to the register of interest.

The source of the tickets has included private donors, corporations, football clubs and sport governing bodies.