Sir Keir Starmer has suggested he accepted £20,000 in donations for accommodation because his son needed somewhere to revise for his GCSEs while his family home was besieged by journalists during the election campaign.
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00:00Part of the reason this is controversial, I wonder if you recognize this, is that as
00:06pretty poor pensioners are being asked to lose money, they think politicians are getting
00:11freebies.
00:13They think you're getting free clothes and free glasses and free tickets, free holidays,
00:20free stays in a flat.
00:21And they think, well, we're being asked to sacrifice things, and politicians are not.
00:26Let me deal with this, because I understand why you're asking questions.
00:28And I understand why other people are asking questions.
00:30So I'll deal with all three things you put to me as quickly as I possibly can.
00:34Firstly, on clothing, in a busy election campaign, as we've had this year, where I'm across the
00:40country pretty well all the time, we have lots of people coming forward to say, I can
00:43help.
00:44And some people came forward and said, I can help by donating to Get Your Clothes, so you
00:47don't have to worry about that and get on with it.
00:49But there's a principle there, isn't there?
00:51Let me just...
00:52No, but forgive me.
00:53The principle that people are talking about is buy your own stuff.
00:55Hear me out.
00:56So that was in opposition, where we're running around.
00:58I won't be making declarations in relation to clothing again.
01:01Understood.
01:02In relation to the second example you put to me, football, I've bought season tickets
01:07in the stand at Arsenal.
01:08I've had them a long time, and I go with my boy who's 60.
01:11As a result of security, I can't go in the stand anymore.
01:14So Arsenal Football Club have said, be our guest in the director's box if and when you
01:18can get to a match.
01:20That actually is a ticket you can't buy.
01:22People say, well, why don't you pay for it?
01:23You can't buy a ticket in the director's box.
01:25But it means I can continue to do something which is really special to me, which is to
01:29go to football with my boy.
01:30The third example you gave to me was accommodation.
01:32Let me just tell you what that was for.
01:34That was because at the beginning of the election, which we didn't know when it was going to
01:37be called, my boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs.
01:42I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams
01:47without being disturbed.
01:50We had lots of journalists outside our house where we lived.
01:53I'm not complaining about that.
01:54That's fine.
01:56You're a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it's your one chance in life.
01:59I promised him we would move someone, we'd get out of that house and go somewhere where
02:03he could be peacefully studying.
02:06Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that, and I took it up, and it
02:09was the right thing to do for my boy.
02:11It didn't cost the taxpayer a penny.
02:12That somebody was Lord Alley, wasn't it?
02:14Yes, of course.
02:15But my primary concern wasn't about influencing government.
02:19It was making sure that my boy could do his GCSEs without having to wade through loads
02:24of journalists outside the house, which may not trouble you and me, but for my 13-year-old
02:30girl and my 16-year-old boy, does make life more difficult.
02:34I don't complain about journalism.
02:35You obviously feel passionately about this.
02:36I really do.
02:37You feel strongly.
02:38I want to ask you about a principle, though.
02:40Is it time to say politicians pay for their own stuff?
02:45And is it time to say to Lord Alley, who's a long-time supporter of the Labour Party
02:49and is no doubt doing it for all the right and best reasons, thanks for everything you've
02:54given us, but enough.
02:55We can't do that.