Calm before the test

British Prime Minister explains donation with his son

Great Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer

(Bild: AFP)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has justified a donation worth 20,000 pounds (the equivalent of 24,032.68 euros) with his son's mid-term exam. He had promised the 16-year-old that he would be able to study in a quiet environment despite the hustle and bustle of the election campaign.

"Someone then offered me accommodation where this was possible and I accepted the offer. It didn't cost the taxpayer a penny," the leader of the Social Democratic Labor Party told the BBC. Starmer and other politicians at the top of the party have been criticized for days for their handling of donations. 

Starmer accepted more donations than almost anyone else in the House of Commons. The sum amounts to 100,000 pounds (the equivalent of around 119,700 euros). The donations mainly consisted of clothing, glasses, VIP tickets for Premier League soccer matches and a Taylor Swift concert. The majority came from the millionaire Waheed Alli, who, among other things, let MPs stay overnight in his luxury property in New York.

No more clothing donations?
The British Prime Minister found himself in need of an explanation, for example, because of a donation of clothes for his wife Victoria, which he had only belatedly declared in the statement of accounts for MPs. According to reports, the Labor Party leadership wants to do without clothing donations in future.

For Starmer and his party, the events are piquant, as they had announced that they wanted to clean up the escapades of the previous Conservative government. Now it looks as if he is following on seamlessly from the Tories' scandals.