Starmer did not break rules when using Labour donor’s penthouse to film COVID ‘stay at home’ broadcast, No 10 says
Downing Street has said Sir Keir Starmer did not break any rules when he used Lord Alli’s London penthouse to record a COVID-era broadcast urging people to “work from home”.
The prime minister revealed on Wednesday he used the millionaire Labour peer’s home, estimated to be worth £18m, for his son to study for his GCSEs this summer so he could do so undisturbed during the election campaign.
Sir Keir declared the use of Lord Alli’s penthouse as being worth £20,437.28 from 28 May to 13 July, although questions remain about why he continued to use it after exams finished on 19 June.
It has now emerged the Labour leader used the penthouse to record a Christmas video message in December 2021 during the COVID pandemic, as first reported by the political news website Guido Fawkes.
A Downing Street spokesman said no rules were broken.
The Tory government had announced new guidance five days before, asking people to work from home where possible to limit the spread of the Omicron variant.
Behind Sir Keir were pictures of his family and Christmas cards, however, the same shelving had previously appeared in a video from inside Lord Alli’s flat.
In the video, he said: “At times like this, we must all put the national interest first and play by the rules.
“Of course, I understand that sticking to the rules can be inconvenient.
“Getting jabbed, wearing masks and working from home if you can will really help prevent infections and help prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.”
Lord Alli at an event at London’s Hilton Park Lane in 2015. Pic: PA
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On Wednesday, Sir Keir defended using Lord Alli’s home, telling Sky News he had “promised” his 16-year-old son he could get to his school and sit his exams without being disturbed by photographers and protesters outside their home.
The prime minister said he had made a pledge to his wife, son and daughter that he would “protect them”.
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PM defends £20k donation from Lord Alli
Sir Keir told political editor Beth Rigby that when the election was called ahead of the exam period, it meant there were “a lot of journalists” and also protesters “outside my front door”.
At this point he told his son, who is 16, he would find somewhere he could “just study and get to school and back without having to go through all of that”.
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Sir Keir said it was after this that “someone” offered to make a flat “available” for his son – but claimed “no money exchanged hands”.
“I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside the front door,” the father-of-two added.
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The Conservative Party will leave a key human rights treaty if it wins the election, its leader Kemi Badenoch has said.
Ms Badenoch announced the policy to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ahead of the Conservative Party’s conference next week.
Despite many Tory MPs having expressed displeasure with the treaty, and the court that upholds treaty rights in recent years, it had not been party policy for the UK to exit it.
The move follows a review on the impact of the UK’s ECHR membership conducted by shadow attorney general Baron Wolfson.
Lord Wolfson’s nearly 200-page report said the ECHR had impacted government policy in numerous areas.
The report said this includes limiting government’s ability to address immigration issues, potentially hampering restrictions on climate change policy, and impacting government ability to prioritise British citizens for social housing and public services.
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But leaving the ECHR would “not be a panacea to all the issues that have arisen in recent years”, Lord Wolfson said.
It comes after the Reform Party in August said they would take the UK out of the ECHR if elected.
The Conservatives have increasingly come under threat from Reform and are being trailed in the polls by them.
What is the ECHR?
The ECHR was established in the 1950s, drafted in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust, to protect people from serious human rights violations, with Sir Winston Churchill as a driving force.
It’s 18 sections guarantee rights such as the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the right to a fair trial, the right to private and family life and the right to freedom of expression.
It has been used to halt the deportation of migrants in 13 out of 29 UK cases since 1980.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch. Pic: PA
A political issue
Leaving the ECHR would breach the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the peace settlement deal between the British and Irish governments on how Northern Ireland should be governed.
Labour has in recent days said it was considering how Article 3, the prohibition on torture, and Article 8,
the right to respect for private and family life, are interpreted. The sections have been used to halt deportation attempts.
The Liberal Democrats and Greens are in favour of the ECHR.
A general election is not expected until 2029.
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