Sir Keir Starmer‘s wife skipped a London Fashion Week event in Downing Street last night amid a fierce row over the couple’s freebie clothes.
Lady Victoria Starmer was absent from a No10 reception hosted by her husband and attended by supermodels Naomi Campbell and Dave Gandy.
This was despite senior figures from the British fashion industry having expected the Prime Minister’s wife to be there.
Sir Keir and Lady Starmer have become embroiled in a ‘wardrobegate’ scandal over accepting lavish gifts from a Labour peer.
The PM is alleged to have broken rules by failing to declare donations of high-end clothing for his wife within a designated time limit.
Sir Keir has also accepted suits and spectacles worth £18,865 from millionaire businessman Lord Waheed Alli.
The Labour peer recently faced questions over being granted a rare No10 security pass in a ‘passes for glasses’ row.
Neither Sir Keir or Downing Street have yet explained why he cannot afford to buy his own clothes, although allies have suggested the PM and Lady Starmer want to ‘look their best’ to represent Britain.
Sir Keir Starmer’s wife skipped a London Fashion Week event in Downing Street last night amid a fierce row over the couple’s freebie clothes
Lady Victoria Starmer was absent from a No10 reception hosted by her husband and attended by leading figures in the fashion industry
The PM gave a speech on the economic benefit of fashion during last night’s reception in Downing Street
Sir Keir met with Naomi Campbell at the reception, which was held to mark 40 years of London Fashion Week
Lady Starmer was absent from the No10 reception on Monday night despite having attended a separate London Fashion Week event in central London earlier in the day
The PM’s wife wore a polka dot Edeline Lee top and trouser ensemble and navy jacket to the brand’s catwalk show
Lady Starmer was absent from the No10 reception on Monday night despite having attended a separate London Fashion Week event in central London earlier in the day.
She wore a polka dot Edeline Lee top and trouser ensemble and navy jacket to the brand’s catwalk show.
Both items were loaned to her by the brand, it was confirmed. The blouse and trousers are likely to be worth more than £1,000, while the jacket retails for £1,200.
A copy of speeches by David Pemsel, the chair of the British Fashion Council, and Caroline Rush, the organisation’s chief executive, suggested they both expected Lady Starmer to attend the No10 reception.
According to the Telegraph, a copy of Mr Pemsel’s speech – released in advance of the event – began: ‘Thank you, Prime Minister and Mrs Starmer for welcoming us to No10 today, given everything that’s going on in the world, we genuinely appreciate your hospitality and time.’
And Ms Rush had planned to begin: ‘Prime Minister, Mrs Starmer, designers, colleagues, and friends.’
A government source told the newspaper the BFC had made a ‘mistake’ by suggesting Lady Starmer would be there.
Downing Street said the PM and his wife both attended an event at the Holocaust Education Trust on Monday night.
Among the guests at the No10 reception – held to mark 40 years of London Fashion Week – were designers Paul Smith, Ozwald Boateng, David Koma and Zandra Rhodes, milliner Stephen Jones and representatives from brands such as Burberry, Stella McCartney and Victoria Beckham.
The PM gave a speech on the economic benefit of fashion.
Sir Keir has insisted there was a ‘massive difference between declarations and corruption’ as he faced questions over his alleged failure to register clothing given to Lady Starmer by Lord Alli within a designated time limit.
She leaned into the row yesterday, taking a front row seat at a LFW event while wearing a loaned designer outfit.
The Conservatives said it was ‘shocking’ – while Labour MPs said they were ‘not impressed’ by the move after ten million pensioners were stripped of their winter fuel payments.
It is understood Lady Starmer has received around £5,000 of high-end clothes from Lord Alli, who was already at the centre of a No 10 access scandal.
In a row dubbed ‘passes for glasses’, it emerged the former TV mogul gave Sir Keir thousands of pounds of suits and spectacles before being handed a rare Downing Street security pass.
One Labour backbencher said: ‘MPs have no idea why the Prime Minister and his wife, or any MP, would need anyone else’s money to buy their own clothes. Or why they cannot see the crass insensitivity of the timing.’
Another Labour MP said it ‘sticks in your throat when people are really, really struggling’ amid the cost of living crisis. ‘It’s the inequality which it highlights. It looks like there is hypocrisy when the person who is in charge of policy decisions that are going to impact the very poorest [takes freebies],’ they added.
Despite calls for an investigation, sources said last night that the parliamentary standards commissioner will not look into Sir Keir’s alleged rule breach for his late declaration of the gift.
Speaking to journalists travelling with him a visit to Rome yesterday, Sir Keir dismissed the idea that taxpayers should fund such expenses for PMs and their spouses.
But he suggested it would be ‘pushing it a bit far’ to deny him the right to enjoy certain kinds of hospitality.
Giving the example of football tickets, which the PM has regularly accepted as gifts, he said: ‘I’m a massive Arsenal fan. I can’t go into the stands because of security reasons.
‘Therefore, if I don’t accept a gift of hospitality, I can’t go to a game. You could say, ‘well, bad luck’. That’s why gifts have to be registered.
‘But, you know, never going to an Arsenal game again because I can’t accept hospitality is pushing it a bit far.’
The Sunday Times reported Lord Alli’s donations covered the cost of a personal shopper, clothes and alterations for Lady Starmer both before and after Labour’s general election win in July.
MPs are required to register gifts and donations within 28 days.
