Keir Starmer 'can't afford to pay back clothes on his £167k salary'

Sir Keir Starmer could not easily afford to pay back tens of thousands of pounds' worth of freebies, according to prominent party donor Dale Vince.

The Prime Minister's £166,786 salary is 'not madly big' and the amount he would have to return is 'a lot of money', according to the millionaire eco-tycoon.

Mr Vince, the founder of green energy firm Ecotricity, also insisted there was no 'corruption' involved in Sir Keir ­taking £32,000 from Lord Alli to use on clothes to improve his appearance.

His comments came after Sir Keir agreed to pay back £6,000 for ­freebies he has enjoyed since the election, including tickets to Taylor Swift and clothes for his wife – a fraction of the amount he has received in gifts and hospitality in recent years.

Mr Vince, who has donated £5.5 million to Labour since 2020, told Times Radio ­yesterday: 'His salary is not madly big. I know that for a lot of ­people in our country on average pay, it's a lot of money but if you take tax off that and then you say, can you afford to pay back 20 grand for some clothes that he wore during the election campaign as part of a makeover?'

He added: 'I mean, Waheed Alli gave those clothes, it came from a good place. It was to smarten Keir Starmer up for the election campaign to help him win and that kind of stuff and there's not ­corruption in here. I don't know anything about his finances ... what I'm saying is, it's a lot of money, even when you're on 150 grand a year, 20 grand is a lot of money.'

Read More

Keir Starmer's won't ban his Cabinet from accepting freebies

It was claimed in court this week that Mr Vince's estranged wife believes he is in line for a peerage from the PM – and is trying to rush through their divorce so she does not get a title of her own.

But Mr Vince insisted his wife and her barrister could not know that, adding: 'I think that's so grubby. I'm not even fractionally expecting, like even 1 per cent expecting, that. Not at all.'

Asked if he had been tipped off about getting a seat in the House of Lords, he replied: 'No conversations, no nods, no winks, nothing.

'I gave the money just for Labour to win the election. I've already said I don't want anything in return.'

Last night, Mr Vince claimed the freebies row engulfing Labour made it impossible for Sir Keir to award honours to financial backers such as himself. He told The Daily Telegraph: 'Anyone who thinks that's remotely possible isn't ­reading the news right now.

'Have you seen where Labour and Keir are in terms of scandals – or just gifts from donors? I mean come on, read the room.'

The Telegraph also reported that Lord Alli laid on hospitality for Labour more than 20 times in the year running up to the election.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir admitted that he was not forcing his ministers to repay the cost of freebies.

He said: 'We are going to draw up some principles so that ­everyone can see the basis on which donations et cetera are being accepted.

'I decided to repay so that any future activities, of me or ­anybody else, are in ­accordance with whatever the new principles are.

'That is my personal ­decision, I am not saying ­others should do the same.'