Keir Starmer, once touted as the antidote to Conservative Party’s reign of chaos, is now mired in controversy. Rightfully so, I hasten to add. Despite promising a return to sensible and responsible politics, Starmer has single-handedly enmeshed himself in a myriad of scandals that are certainly painting a much different picture. The real Starmer is coming to the fore, one who holds himself to double standards, accepts lavish gifts, and has a penchant for cronyism, all whilst the country gets worse off.
Since 2019, no other MP has accepted more freebies–holidays, gifts, entertainment, clothing–than Sir Keir. The staggering figure of £107,145 worth of gifts is two and a half times more than the next MP on the list. The litany of complimentary bestowments include forty sets of elite sporting and concert tickets, estimated at nearly £9,000 per game. This is a stark contrast of the ‘for the working man’ image Starmer and his crew so desperately try to portray. The list includes £12,588 worth of Premier League tickets and a free holiday paid for by a private company. Hasn’t the man got work to be doing? Shouldn’t he be busy “fixing the foundations”? Alas, he’s busy fixing it for himself.
Not to mention the £16,000 in free clothing received from Labour Party donor Lord Alli, with his wife benefitting from around £5,000 worth of luxury apparel. The latter has earnt the rather fitting moniker “Victoria Sponger”. Is Sir Keir forgetting his obsession with Boris Johnson’s donor-funded redecorating of 10 Downing Street in 2021? Starmer has also accepted a pair of glasses worth an eye-watering (sorry) £2,485. What an ironic indulgence. What do these glasses do? Provide x-ray vision, cure cancer, or afford the ability to teleport? I’d be inclined to suggest these exorbitantly priced spectacles do not work, because Starmer clearly cannot see how out of touch with the ordinary taxpayer he is.
As if this wasn’t enough to forgive you for assuming you were still living through the ‘jobs for the boys' days of Boris Johnson’s government, Starmer has granted his top aide, the elusive Sue Gray, a £25,000 pay rise. This brings her grand salary total to £170,000 - more than Starmer himself! This not only echoes the kind of cronyism that Starmer once lambasted the Conservatives for, it indicates that perhaps it's Sue Gray who is actually running the show. The duplicity and hypocrisy here is astounding. When Boris Johnson provided Dominic Cummings with a similar pay increase, Starmer was quick to condemn it. This really is sanctimonious pietism.
Quietly, as this scandalous storm brews, Labour are working hard to persecute hard-working Britons up and down the country. The Winter Fuel Payment cut is the obvious affront. “Granny Harmer” Starmer’s government has successfully implemented a blanket ban on the benefit, punishing struggling pensioners who have paid into the system for decades. Starmer promised protection for the most vulnerable in our society, yet his government, in its first big economic policy, took away from deserving pensioners during a cost-of-living crisis. Classy.
There are now rumours that Starmer is not quite done persecuting the vulnerable in our society. Labour now plans to scrap a council tax discount for those living alone - the so-called “widow tax”. This has, quite rightly, sparked outrage. Many elderly and vulnerable people rely on this discount, as they do the winter fuel allowance, and its removal could further deepen and entrench relative poverty in this country. This is a juxtaposition of the highest order, with Starmer’s electoral campaign drivel falsely promising a return to responsible, compassionate governance.
Meanwhile, as Britain’s government cuts benefits to its most deserving, Starmer has managed to find £84 million for foreign aid in the hopes of stopping migration “at source”. If we are so broke we have to start lessening and removing social welfare provisions that protect our elderly, how the hell are we coughing up the money to make foreign nations greater, so that their citizens don’t want to illegally migrate here? I am sorry but this is misjudged, futile, and merely a performative exercise at a significant cost to the taxpayer. The duty of any British government is to prioritise its domestic commitments first. Whilst pensioners suffer, governments around the world receive a payday from the Bank of Starmer.
Starmer’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. He won the election on the technicality that he wasn’t the Tories, that he wasn’t representative of the cronyism, duplicity, and contempt he readily derided the governments of Johnson, Truss, and Sunak for. Whilst Sir Keir positioned himself as the ethical alternative, he has arguably equalled some of the worst behaviours of his political opponents. Hats off though, to achieve that in a couple of months is no easy feat.
Starmer is on track to becoming one of the most unpopular prime ministers in living memory. His policies harm the vulnerable, while he indulges himself in luxury gifts, complimentary holidays, and blatant cronyism, all whilst the country continues to collapse around him. The electorate needs to awaken itself to the reality of Starmer’s leadership before the damage becomes hopelessly irreversible.
Image: Flickr/Number 10
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