New donations guidance is because expectations for Labour ‘much higher’ than Tories, says minister
The government is bringing in guidance around donations because the public’s expectations are “so much higher” for Labour than for the Tories, a minister has said.
Peter Kyle, the science secretary, insisted that despite the continued backlash over the freebies row that has engulfed Sir Keir Starmer’s government, “none of the rules had been broken”.
He told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the reason the government was bringing forward a new set of principles – as announced by the prime minister last week – was because ministers were “trying to meet the expectations that the public have”.
“We had a previous set of leaders in our country, a previous government that was just flouting the rules, breaking the rules and lowering the standards,” he said.
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“We focussed so much on the rules that what we didn’t do – and we now know we have to do – is take what the public are thinking about what happens within the rules.”
“What we’re trying to do is adapt to what are the expectations – because expectations of this Labour government are so much higher than they were of the previous government, for understandable reasons.”
Challenged on whether the government was in fact “trying to meet the expectations that you yourself set” when criticising the Tories in opposition, Mr Kyle sought to draw a distinction by arguing that the Tories had broken the rules by not declaring some donations.
Sir Keir announced a new set of principles for political donations following weeks of criticism after he and his top team accepted tens of thousands of pounds worth of freebies from wealthy donors.
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While all the gifts had been declared, opposition parties have accused Labour of hypocrisy, given they vowed to “clean up politics” if they entered government.
Alongside the new set of principles, the prime minister also confirmed he had paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality received since taking office – including the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets, four to the races, and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favoured by his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer.
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His decision to cover the cost of some gifts and not others – the prime minister also received work clothing donations worth £16,200 – has prompted a debate over what donations it will now be considered acceptable to receive.
Asked whether “accepting free football tickets or club nights in Ibiza” was “on or off” under the new guidance, Mr Kyle replied: “Everything is declared. We will stick to the rules.
“We’re updating the rules so that it reflects the expectations that we believe the public has of us post election.”
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Starmer says former Tory ministers have ‘serious questions to answer’ over Afghan data breach
Sir Keir Starmer has said former Tory ministers have “serious questions to answer” about how the names of Afghans who worked with UK forces were exposed.
Nearly 7,000 Afghan nationals are being relocated to the UK after their names were accidentally sent in an email in February 2022, when Boris Johnson was prime minister, but the leak was only discovered by the British military in August 2023, when Rishi Sunak was PM.
A super-injunction, preventing the reporting of the mistake, was imposed that year in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak.
The Conservative government at the time then started transporting thousands of Afghans to the UK in secret as they were in danger.
On Tuesday, the injunction was lifted.
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Victim of Afghan data breach speaks to Sky
Kicking off Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said: “Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen.
“The chair of the defence committee has indicated that he intends to hold further inquiries.
“I welcome that and hope that those who are in office at the time will welcome that scrutiny.”
The data breach saw a defence official accidentally release details of almost 19,000 people seeking to flee Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch avoided mentioning the data breach, but Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said it was “shocking” how it had been kept secret for three years.
Sir Ed said the prime minister will have the Lib Dems’ support if he decides to pursue a public inquiry.
Mr Healey’s Tory predecessor, Sir Ben Wallace, said he makes “no apology” for applying for the initial four-month injunction and insisted it was “not a cover-up”.
The scheme, which had been kept under wraps until yesterday, has so far cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
However, the total cost to the taxpayer of existing schemes to assist Afghans who are deemed eligible for British support, as well as the additional cost from the breach, will come to at least £6bn.
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Afghans being relocated after data breach
Earlier, Defence Secretary John Healey told Sky News he is “deeply uncomfortable” with the government using a super-injunction to keep the massive data breach hidden.
He said: “I’m really deeply uncomfortable with the idea that a government applies for a super-injunction.
“If there are any [other] super-injunctions in place, I just have to tell you – I don’t know about them. I haven’t been read into them.
“The important thing here now is that we’ve closed the scheme.”
Mr Healey was informed of the breach while in opposition, and earlier this year he commissioned a review that led to the injunction being lifted.
He said “accountability starts now” and added Labour had to deal with the risks, court papers, intelligence assessments and different schemes when they came to power last summer before they could lift the injunction.
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