Lord Alli: Labour donor at centre of Starmer freebies row under Lords investigation
The Labour peer at the centre of a row over donations to Sir Keir Starmer is under investigation by the Lords’ standards watchdog.
Lord Waheed Alli is facing a probe over “alleged non-registration of interests”, leading to a possible breach of the members’ code of conduct.
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The UK parliament website notes that the British businessman, who is one of the Labour Party’s biggest donors and the largest personal donor to the prime minister since December 2019, is being investigated for potential breaches to codes 14(a) and 17.
These are rules requiring members to make clear what their interests are that might be reasonably thought to influence their parliamentary actions, and ensuring entries are up to date.
It is understood that the investigation doesn’t relate to donations but rather a clerical element of already declared interests.
The Lords’ Commissioner declined to give further comment.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Lord Alli will cooperate fully with the Lords’ Commissioner and he is confident all interests have been registered. We cannot comment further while this is ongoing.”
Who is Lord Alli?
Lord Alli has found himself in the headlines in recent weeks, after scrutiny over the tens of thousands of pounds he has given to his party’s MPs to cover clothes, holidays and work events.
According to data unveiled by Sky News’ Westminster Accounts project, he gave Sir Keir over £39,000 in gifts and hospitality over the course of the last parliament.
This year alone, the prime minister has received nearly £19,000 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses from Lord Alli as well as £20,000 worth of accommodation.
Sir Keir said this was to allow his son to study for his GCSEs in peace at the former TV executive’s central London flat while the family home was surrounded by media during the general election.
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‘I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs,’ says Keir Starmer.
He has argued Lord Alli was motivated to help financially because he wanted Labour to win the campaign.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have also received donations used for purchasing clothes by the long-standing Labour peer, while Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson accepted £14,000 for work events around her 40th birthday.
While these donations had been declared by those involved, Conservatives have accused ministers of being part of a “government of self-service”.
Labour has also faced accusations of hypocrisy, having accused the Tories of “sleaze” and vowing to clean up politics if they got into government.
Sir Keir, Ms Reeves and Ms Rayner announced they are no longer going to accept donations to pay for clothes following the backlash.
The controversy overshadowed the party’s first annual conference since taking power and was cited by Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield as one of the reasons she resigned the whip on Saturday in protest against the leadership.
‘We need answers’
Lord Alli is the former chairman of online fashion retailer ASOS who worked as the party’s chief fundraiser for the general election.
He has donated to Labour for 20 years, and was ennobled by Tony Blair in 1998.
The SNP welcomed the investigation, saying the “scandal has wrecked public confidence in Keir Starmer, his government and the Westminster system, and there must be full transparency and accountability”.
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Lord Alli avoids gift row questions
But they called for further enquiries into all the donations made by Lord Alli and the granting of a Downing Street security pass, which the government has said was temporary so he could attend political meetings.
The SNP’s Cabinet Office spokesman Brendan O’Hara said: “Voters are appalled that Labour ministers have been lining their pockets with more than £800,000 of luxury designer clothes, holidays, hospitality and donations, while imposing painful austerity cuts on the rest of us, and they want to know what donors were getting in exchange.
“We need answers – including why these gifts were taken, whether there have been breaches of the MPs’ and ministerial code, and why Lord Alli was handed a security pass to the halls of power.”
Migrants convicted of sex offences in the UK or overseas will be unable to claim asylum under government plans to change the law to improve border security.
The Home Office announcement means foreign nationals who are added to the sex offenders register will forfeit their rights to protection under the Refugee Convention.
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As part of the 1951 UN treaty, countries are allowed to refuse asylum to terrorists, war criminals and individuals convicted of a “particularly serious crime” – which is currently defined in UK law as an offence carrying a sentence of 12 months or more.
The government now plans to extend that definition to include all individuals added to the Sex Offenders’ Register, regardless of the length of sentence, in an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which is currently going through parliament. It’s understood they also hope to include those convicted of equivalent crimes overseas.
Those affected will still be able to appeal their removal from the UK in the courts under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
More than 10,000 people have now been detected crossing the Channel. Pic: PA
It is unclear how many asylum seekers will be affected, as the government has been unable to provide any projections or past data on the number of asylum seekers added to the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Sex offenders who pose a risk to the community should not be allowed to benefit from refugee protections in the UK.
“We are strengthening the law to ensure these appalling crimes are taken seriously.”
Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Minister Jess Philips said: “We are determined to achieve our mission of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.
“That’s exactly why we are taking action to ensure there are robust safeguards across the system, including by clamping down on foreign criminals who commit heinous crimes like sex offences.”
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The Home Office would like voters to see this as a substantial change. But that’s hard to demonstrate without providing any indication of the scale of the problem it seeks to solve.
Clearly, the government does not want to fan the flames of resentment towards asylum seekers by implying large numbers have been committing sex crimes.
But amid rising voter frustration about the government’s grip on the issue, and under pressure from Reform – this measure is about signalling it is prepared to take tough action.
Conservatives: ‘Too little, too late’
The Conservatives claim Labour are engaged in “pre-election posturing”.
Chris Philp MP, the shadow home secretary, said: “This is too little, too late from a Labour government that has scrapped our deterrent and overseen the worst year ever for small boat crossings – with a record 10,000 people crossing this year already.
“Foreign criminals pose a danger to British citizens and must be removed, but so often this is frustrated by spurious legal claims based on human rights claims, not asylum claims.”
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Has Labour tackled migration?
The Home Office has also announced plans to introduce a 24-week target for appeal hearings (known as “first-tier tribunals”) to be held for rejected asylum seekers living in taxpayer-supported accommodation, or for foreign national offenders.
The current average wait is 50 weeks. The idea is to cut the asylum backlog and save taxpayers money – Labour have committed to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.
It’s unclear how exactly this will be achieved, although a number of additional court days have already been announced.
The government also plans to crack down on fake immigration lawyers who advise migrants on how to lodge fraudulent asylum claims, with the Immigration Advice Authority given new powers to issue fines of up to £15,000.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on government officials to address questions related to US President Donald Trump’s memecoin and his media company.
In an April 25 letter to Jamieson Greer, acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff requested that officials address concerns about Trump’s memecoin after the president announced a dinner and White House tour for some of the individuals who held the most TRUMP tokens. The two senators requested that Greer provide information on safeguards and guidelines related to whether foreign actors and others could buy political influence with the president, potentially impacting his policy positions and federal pardons.
“President Trump’s announcement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant investment in one of the President’s business ventures,” wrote the two senators.
“In promising such access, this proposition may implicate several federal ethics laws and constitutional prohibitions, including the federal bribery statute and emoluments clauses of the US Constitution. It also raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the memecoin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly.”
The letter was sent the same day Warren reportedly expressed similar concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to an April 25 Reuters report, the Massachusetts senator urged SEC Chair Paul Atkins to ensure that oversight of Trump’s media company was “free from undue political interference and influence from the President and his administration.”
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Though ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Warren does not have the authority to direct Congress’s agenda with Democrats in the minority. Two Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have already called for Trump’s impeachment over his memecoin dinner.
Warren added:
“The American people deserve the unwavering assurance that access to the presidency is not being offered for sale to the highest bidder in exchange for the President’s own financial gain.”
At the time of publication, it was unclear who among the top TRUMP memecoin holders would attend the dinner, scheduled to be held on May 22 at Trump’s golf club in Washington, DC. Speculation and analysis of users suggested that Trump supporters, including Tron founder Justin Sun, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and others, could attend, though none had been confirmed as of April 28.
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Crypto users betting on the outcome of the snap election to determine the next Prime Minister of Canada appear to be favoring a Liberal Party victory as residents head to cast their votes.
As of April 28, cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket gave current Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party candidate Mark Carney a 79% chance of defeating Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre in the race for the country’s next PM. Data from the platform showed users had poured more than $75 million into bets surrounding the race, predicting a Poilievre or Carney victory.
The odds suggested by the platform, as well as those from many polls, show a nearly complete reversal of fortunes between the two candidates after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January. Trudeau and, by association, many in the Liberal Party, faced criticism over the handling of Canada’s housing crisis and questions about how he would face US President Donald Trump’s then-proposed tariffs.
Following Trudeau’s resignation, Trump stepped up rhetoric disparaging Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as the US’s “51st state” and Trudeau as its “governor.” The US President also imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada in March. The policies seem to have led to increasing anti-Trump sentiment in Canada, with many residents booing the US national anthem at hockey games and making comparisons between the president and Poilievre.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
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