It’s a story as old as politics itself. So convinced are Left-wing politicians of their moral superiority that they behave as if whatever they do must, by definition, be correct. It gives them carte blanche in their own minds to act as they see fit.
If you thought this Labour Government would be any different then it’s not taken long for it to prove you wrong. One of the defining features of Keir Starmer‘s Government is its brazen cronyism and an arrogant disregard for basic propriety.
Since taking office last month, Labour has turned cronyism into an art form, shoving its donors and party hacks into key roles (as revealed in these pages on Saturday by Guy Adams) – including straight into senior civil service jobs which are supposed to be politically impartial and subject to open competition other than in exceptional circumstances.
Yesterday it emerged that Lord Alli, who has not only given £500,000 to Labour since 2020 but is also the biggest personal donor to Sir Keir Starmer himself, has had a security pass to 10 Downing Street since Labour took office. Bizarrely, no one seems to know what he actually does when he swans around No 10 – beyond reportedly organising a post-election reception in the Downing Street garden.
One of the defining features of Keir Starmer ‘s Government is its brazen cronyism and an arrogant disregard for basic propriety. (Pictured, Keir Starmer meets with Defence Secretary John Healey and Member of the House of Lords George Robertson at 10 Downing Street)
Lord Ali has given £20,000 – as well as the use of a flat in New York – to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. (Pictured, Ms Rayner at the 2023 Labour Party Conference)
But it’s not just bizarre that his role is so unclear – it also gives rise to further questions about Labour cronyism, since passes to No 10 are not given out to anyone who wants one. They are supposed to be reserved for civil servants and advisers, the Chancellor and for the Prime Minister’s family. Why does Lord Alli qualify for one? Is it because of his donations?
He has given £20,000 – as well as the use of a flat in New York – to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. He also put his hand in his pocket for the Prime Minister, giving £16,200 for ‘work clothing’ (said to be suits). He has even handed over £2,485 for ‘multiple pairs of glasses’. For Lord Alli, it seems to be a case of ‘passes for glasses’.
What makes this especially murky is that Labour has struggled to get its story straight. When the revelation emerged yesterday, the party said his pass was temporary and was removed ‘weeks ago’. But that is not what Downing Street told the reporters who broke the story in The Sunday Times. On Friday, Downing Street confirmed not only that Lord Alli had a pass – but that it was still active. It appears that No 10 changed its story yesterday morning, presumably when it realised how bad this latest example of cronyism looked.
As for the truth – who knows? Labour may only have been in office for seven weeks but we already know it has little compunction in distorting the truth.
Last week, for example, it became clear that the party’s pledge not to increase income tax, VAT or National Insurance was meaningless, when Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones started referring to not increasing ’employee National Insurance’ – implying, in other words, that it would increase the employer part.
Labour has already done a sudden volte face on another example of cronyism. Ian Corfield, who has given £20,000 to the party, was appointed to a high-powered civil service role as the Treasury’s director of investment. The job was approved by the Civil Service Commission but, crucially, it has been reported that the commission was never told that, in addition, Corfield had donated £5,000 to Chancellor Rachel Reeves. No sooner had this shadowy appointment started to be scrutinised, however, than he stepped down at the weekend.
Labour has already done a sudden volte face on another example of cronyism. (Sir Keir speks following a COBRA meeting on August 6)
When Boris Johnson (pictured) appointed Dame Kate Bingham to an unpaid role running the ‘Vaccine Taskforce’, Labour led the attack on her as a crony. (Boris Johnson delivers his speech during the Salzburg’s Summit)
Labour remains shameless about inserting its people into once impartial roles. Take Jess Sargeant, who until the election was working for Labour Together, a Starmerite lobby group. She was parachuted immediately after Labour’s victory into a civil service job as deputy director in the Propriety and Constitution Group in the Cabinet Office, the Whitehall unit responsible for investigating political wrongdoing.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking. When Boris Johnson appointed Dame Kate Bingham, one of the UK’s foremost experts on biotechnology, to an unpaid role running the ‘Vaccine Taskforce’, Labour led the attack on her as a crony, solely because her husband was Tory MP Jesse Norman.
Months before the election, Sir Keir promised that Labour would ‘restore standards in public life with a total crackdown on cronyism’.
Now the boot is firmly on the other foot – and, as the No 10 pass for Lord Alli shows, Sir Keir stands revealed as a hypocrite of the highest order.
