Here is a man who has clearly long had a taste for comfort: when he was director of prosecutions, taxpayers reportedly coughed up
nearly £250,000for his travel costs, including first-class flights and a chauffeur-driven car. Apparently he deemed the latter a requirement, even though he lived just five or so miles from the Crown Prosecution Service offices, which were easily accessible through a direct tube journey. Notably, he claimed nearly three times more expenses than his successor, who had the job for the same amount of time.
Look at this behaviour as Labour leader, and something of a pattern emerges. By last summer, Starmer had accepted more freebies than all Labour leaders since 1997 combined. As
analysis by openDemocracy uncovered, that included multiple gifts from wealthy donors and companies, days at the races, an Adele gig, two Coldplay concerts and hospitality at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur matches.
In total, he
received £76,000 worth of freebies in the last parliament. These ranged from hotel stays to more than 20 football tickets (bear in mind that, as leader of the opposition, his £128,291 annual salary hardly left him wanting). Throw in VIP tickets courtesy of the Premier League to see Taylor Swift, worth £4,000, during the general election campaign and, well, you get the gist.
Notably, Starmer also received “work clothing” worth an astonishing £16,200, and “multiple pairs of glasses” worth £2,485 from the Labour lord and businessperson Waheed Alli.
