Starmer 'is in pocket of millionaires', Diane Abbott claims amid row over Labour donations ahead of party conference

21 September 2024, 13:37 | Updated: 21 September 2024, 15:17

Keir Starmer is "in the pocket of millionaires", Labour MP Diane Abbott has claimed, amid a deepening row over donations and gifts to ministers.

The former Home Secretary made the remark amid a row over donations given to the Prime Minister and senior ministers, including from prominent Labour supporter and multi-millionaire Lord Alli.

Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and deputy PM Angela Rayner promised on Friday that they would no longer accept donations for clothing. It comes as Labour MPs head to the party conference in Liverpool, which begins on Sunday.

The backlash to the donations comes against the backdrop of the government attempting to position itself in contrast to the reputation of the previous Conservative administration.

Starmer and his ministers have also made much of how they have transformed the Labour party from how it was under Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer's predecessor. Ms Abbott, who is on the left of Labour, was a key ally of Mr Corbyn, and has had a rocky relationship with Starmer.

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Writing on social media on Saturday, she said: “Ellie Reeves MP says ‘Labour’s general election victory was only possible because under Keir’s leadership we changed the party.'

“Changed it into an organisation whose leaders are in the pocket of millionaires?”

Ms Abbott posted her comments alongside a grainy image of the Prime Minister. It is unclear which comments of Ms Reeves Ms Abbott was responding to. Ms Reeves, the Labour chairwoman, will open the party conference on Sunday.

It comes after it was revealed that the PM has received over £100,000 of gifts and hospitality since 2019.

Sir Keir came under fire after accepting work clothing donations worth £16,200, and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485 from prominent Labour donor Lord Alli. But until Friday, the PM had continued to defend his actions.

John McDonnell, the left-wing Labour MP and former Shadow Chancellor who also served in the Shadow Cabinet under Mr Corbyn, said that Starmer accepting so many gifts was a "huge mistake".

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He told Matt Frei: "Lots of people have come up to me, and the contrast is, this is the same time as the winter fuel allowance being up for a large number of my constituents, and some of them are really worried about getting through this winter.

"They're saying to me - 'Look, this is what... a Labour government is doing to me, while at the same time, Keir Starmer has accepted tens of thousands of pounds just to pay for his suits and glasses, and people are pretty angry about it.

"I just think it's a huge, huge mistake, and then to send people out to defend it is just unconscionable."

Mr McDonnell also said the row threatened to overshadow the upcoming Labour party conference.

LBC has contacted the Labour Party for comment.

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As well as Starmer, it has also emerged that Ms Rayner has also accepted clothing donations worth around £2,200 from Lord Alli.

Ms Reeves admitted that she had accepted money for clothes on Friday too.

She has received around £7,500 for clothing since 2023 from a donor called Juliet Rosenfeld. The donations were registered as “support” for her office.

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Ms Abbott has already been critical of Starmer this week, accusing her of treating her as a "non-person" during a row over comments made about her by a leading Tory donor.

The Guardian reported that Frank Hester said in 2019: "It's like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you're just like I hate, you just want to hate all black women because she's there, and I don't hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot."

Ms Abbott said that she believes she was not properly supported by Starmer and he treated her as a “non-person.”

She said: “I think initially I was treated as a non-person, which felt very strange because at the same time they were writing to party members trying to raise money on the back of how Hester had treated me without mentioning me, which was a bit odd.

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“Well, you’d feel that if somebody was threatening to have you shot, you would have felt that your party would have offered you more support, given you advice on safety and security, even kind of commiserated with you. And none of that happened.”

Ms Abbott said: “As I recall, Keir Starmer treated me as a non-person, and I got more support from the leader of the SNP, Stephen Flynn, than I got from the leader of my own party.”