Lord Alli loaned Labour MP £1.2m to buy a house with her dying sister

Lord Alli loaned a Labour MP £1.2million to buy a house so his 'best friend' could be comfortable as she died from a brain tumour.

The peer made the interest-free loan to Siobhain McDonagh to purchase the accommodation with her terminally ill sister Margaret - a Baroness and former Labour general secretary.

The donation registered in March last year stated that the sisters needed to move 'to provide the family member with complete ground floor access'. It was intended to be repaid on the sale of the home.

Lady McDonagh died in June last year, aged 61.

Gifts from Lord Alli have come under renewed scrutiny since it emerged he handed Keir Starmer funds to buy clothes and spectacles. 

The millionaire entrepreneur - who has been a member of the Lords since 1998 - also provided the leader with use of his luxury penthouse in Covent Garden during the election campaign. 

Posting on the X social media site last night, Mitcham and Morden Dame Siobhain said: 'Waheed Alli was my sister's best friend for 25yrs. Tragically she was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Brain Tumour in Nov 2021 & died on June 24th 2023. 

'He took every step of her last terrible journey with her. Lending me money to buy a house with ground floor bed & bath room.' 

She added: 'The loan will be repaid on gaining probate on Margaret's Estate. It has been properly registered and Waheed wanted nothing other than his best friend being comfortable in the last months of her life.' 

Speaking earlier this year, Dame Siobhain said she felt her title had been given to her in honour of her late sister, who was general secretary of the Labour Party from 1998 to 2001.

'I think people put me forward as an honour to her,' she said.

Dame Siobhain said her sister had helped Labour achieve its two biggest electoral successes.

'She used to run the Labour Party for Tony Blair,' she said.

'She organised the 1997 and 2001 elections, which were our two biggest successes in our history, and the first time we had two consecutive full-term wins.'