The freebie row engulfing Sir Keir Starmer deepened tonight as it was revealed that he shared lavish football hospitality with a powerful lobbyist who backed the hated breakaway Super League.
The Prime Minister and his embattled chief of staff Sue Gray enjoyed a corporate box at Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday, just hours after fresh ‘Wardrobegate’ allegations emerged about clothes Sir Keir and his wife had taken from Labour donor Lord Alli.
Tickets were funded by Spurs, one of the six clubs which mounted the 2021 attempt to leave the Premier League – a plan that was abandoned following a furious reaction from fans.
And sitting next to Ms Gray – who is facing open revolt in No 10 over her management style – was Katie Perrior, the founder and chair of iNHouse Communications, which worked on the attempt to form the Super League. Other clients include tech giants such as Google, who have been criticised for their legal tax avoidance.
Sir Keir’s party for Tottenham’s clash with his beloved Arsenal also included Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Senior Tory MP John Glen said: ‘Is there no freebie that Sir Keir will not take? His behaviour is as hypocritical as it is incredible. And in view of Labour’s plans for a new football regulator, his presence and that of Sue Gray is a clear conflict of interest.’
Sir Keir has accepted nearly £40,000 worth of free tickets for football matches over the past five years, which critics say threatens his impartiality over the planned regulator, which would have the power to stop teams joining breakaway leagues and to block investment from controversial countries.
Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty said: ‘Keir Starmer pledged to crack down on lobbying yet he seems comfortable to be lobbied if it affords him privileged access to watch Premier League football. For the governance of our national game to be agreed by the PM via informal meetings in VIP boxes over prawn sandwiches, with Sue Gray again shaping policy and without Civil Service oversight, should be a huge concern to football fans across the country.’
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was tonight accused of breaching parliamentary rules by failing to declare that a friend had joined her on a personal holiday funded by Lord Alli.
The friend, Sam Tarry, paid for his flights but stayed with her at the Labour peer’s $2.5 million apartment in Manhattan for the New Year’s Eve break. Rayner’s team claimed that Tarry’s stay did not need to be officially registered.
The revelation that Ms Gray used the Tottenham hospitality box comes as she faces mounting opposition within Downing Street over her ‘heavy-handed’ and ‘cronyist’ management style.
In a development which will increase the pressure on her, sources have told The Mail on Sunday that Ms Gray personally signed off the controversial pass to No10 which Lord Alli used in the weeks after the general election.
This newspaper can also disclose that the Prime Minister’s officials are in open revolt about being cut out of meetings with Sir Keir. All 12 senior civil servants in his private office have either quit, asked to be moved or said to be considering leaving.
The Daily Mail published an exclusive picture today showing Ms Gray in tense talks with Michael Bourke, the principal private secretary to Cabinet Secretary Sir Simon Case, who has been battling Ms Gray over access to the PM. An onlooker told the MoS: ‘It was unbelievable – it certainly wasn’t a nice conversation. He looked upset and she wasn’t smiling at any point... I’ve never seen anything like it before.’
Sir Keir has received many more freebies than any other MP since becoming Labour leader, receiving £107,145-worth since 2019. Lord Alli was the biggest donor, giving the equivalent of £39,122, including accommodation worth £20,437.
The PM and his top team bowed to pressure this weekend and said they will no longer take donations for clothes. He accepted £16,200 of clothing and glasses worth £2,485 from Lord Alli. Chancellor Rachel Reeves accepted £7,500 for clothing while Ms Rayner took donations worth £3,550.
Lord Alli proposed mandatory voting to reduce the ‘influence of money in politics’, according to the Daily Telegraph, citing a speech he made in July. It also reported he had demanded a crackdown on the press, calling for a new offence of ‘corporate intimidation’ to tackle what he called the ‘bullying’ of public figures by newspapers.
Arsenal has made two corporate seats available to Sir Keir in Emirates Stadium, which the PM says he took for security reasons.
Ms Perrior, who worked as director of communications for Prime Minister Theresa May from 2016 to 2017, was not available for comment, but there is no suggestion that she used the match as an opportunity to lobby Ministers.
A Downing Street source said the tickets were paid for by Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Ltd and would be declared ‘in the usual way’.