An article in the Mail on Sunday claimed the minister had used some of the money from Lord Waheed Alli to pay for her 40th birthday party…reports Asian Lite News
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has defended receiving a donation of £14,000 from a Labour peer embroiled in a freebies row, saying it was “declared properly and thoroughly”.
An article in the Mail on Sunday claimed the minister had used some of the money from Lord Waheed Alli to pay for her 40th birthday party.
Phillipson insisted the donation paid for two events in a “professional… work context”, with attendees including representatives from the education sector, trade unions and political journalists.
Pushed to explain her own donations from Lord Alli – a television executive who has donated to Labour over the past 20 years – Ms Phillipson told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips: “It was used to fund two events, all of which was declared properly and thoroughly. That’s why that information is in the public domain.
“The first event was ahead of my birthday, so I was turning 40. I thought it was a good opportunity to get people together in a professional context, so it was journalists, trade unionists, education people, MPs and shadow cabinet.
“The second event was an event that I held also again for lobby journalists [and] for people in the education world as part of a reception. It was in a work context.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is shown a painting by pupil Aicha, aged 4, whilst taking part in an art activity during a visit to the school-based nursery at Ark Start Oval, East Croydon, in south London. Picture date: Wednesday July 10, 2024. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has come under fire this week for accepting more than £100,000 worth of gifts since becoming party leader in 2019, including tickets to football matches, concerts, and luxury clothes for him and his wife – the latter of which was covered by Lord Alli.
It also emerged Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves had received donations used for purchasing clothes by the long-standing Labour peer.
All three, who declared the donations on their register of interests, have now vowed to no longer accept funds in the future to pay for clothing.
Asked whether they would hand the money back following the backlash, Ms Phillipson said: “Well, if they’ve declared it in line with the rules and they’ve followed [the rules], as very clearly they have, then I see no reason to do so.”
She added: “Look, the reason that we can have this conversation is because colleagues have followed the rules. I’ve followed the rules. I’ve set out in the register of interests what donations were [and] who they were from, and that’s there for the public to see.”
The minister said it was “frustrating” to have to discuss the row as Labour’s conference gets into full swing on Sunday, rather than “the wider agenda”, adding: “Of course, this is a distraction. I’d much rather be talking to you about bigger issues.
“But you know, I’m happy to set out our position very clearly.”
Rayner has also come under scrutiny this weekend after The Times reported she had not declared taking a friend on a personal holiday to New York funded by Lord Alli last Christmas.
The deputy prime minister – who delivered the opening speech of party conference on Sunday – declared her own use of the peer’s apartment on her register of interests, but failed to report that Sam Tarry, then the Ilford South MP, stayed in the same accommodation.
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