Labour peer Lord Alli is under investigation by the Lords’ commissioner over “alleged non-registration of interests” leading to a possible breach of the members’ code of conduct. The intervention comes after Sir Keir Starmer became embroiled in a donations row last month over freebies accepted from Lord Alli.
The Parliament website states he is being investigated for “alleged non-registration of interests leading to potential breaches of paragraphs 14(a) and 17 of the 13th edition of the code of conduct for members of the House of Lords”. These rules relate to making clear what the interests are that might be reasonably thought to influence a member’s parliamentary actions and ensuring entries are up to date.
It is a fresh blow to Sir Keir as the attention around donations by the peer had started to subside. Lord Alli gave the Prime Minister £32,000 to pay for clothing, as well as thousands of pounds for designer clothing for his wife Victoria, and work clothing to Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister.
The peer also lent Sir Keir the use of an £18 million penthouse, where he watched election night, and gave Labour the use of a Soho townhouse for strategy meetings. Sir Keir initially failed to declare around £5,000 in designer clothing given to Lady Starmer by the peer, although he will not face a parliamentary standards investigation.
Sir Keir has argued Lord Alli was motivated to help financially because he wanted Labour to win the election. The controversy overshadowed the party’s first annual conference since entering Government and was cited by Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield as one of the reasons she resigned the whip on Saturday in protest against the leadership.
Lord Alli previously criticised “entitled” MPs who took freebies following the Westminster expenses scandal. Speaking to the Financial Times in 2011, Lord Alli criticised MPs who took handouts and suggested people who were involved in the riots that swept across the UK that year felt able to steal from shops because they believed politicians were “on the take”.
His comments came two years after The Telegraph exposed widespread abuse in how MPs claimed their expenses, which led to a major overhaul of the Commons expenses system.
