Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party’s conference was mired in his freebie fiasco scandal after revelations about clothing donations and trips abroad surfaced. But while the Labour lot had a tricky time fending the story off at their conference, they appear determined not to let the Tory meet pass without a similar hitch. Now it transpires that the Labour party chair has written to the Electoral Commission to demand an investigation over donations accepted by one Robert Jenrick. How curious…
The Chancellor’s sister Ellie Reeves has blasted the Tory leadership frontrunner over a £75,000 sum he accepted from a company called The Spott Fitness. Raising concerns over the ‘legality’ of the monetary gift, Reeves fumed:
Most concerningly, Companies House records show that in January, Spott entered into a loan arrangement with a company based in the tax haven British Virgin Islands. The amount of this loan from Centrovalli Ltd or any details on who actually directs this offshore entity are entirely unknown.
Donations to MPs must come from sources registered in the UK. It is clear that Mr Jenrick has serious questions to answer about the origin of these funds and their legality.’
Crikey. Now businessman Phillip Ullmann has come forward to say he was behind the large sum, adding that The Spott Fitness is ‘part of my family’s group of businesses’. The entrepreneur says of Jenrick: ‘I don’t agree with him on everything but broadly we are aligned’, adding: ‘I don’t want there to be any suggestion at all that I’m hiding anything and I understand the importance of donor transparency.’ Yet Labour has tried to slam Jenrick further, suggesting that an earlier donation made by the leadership candidate — £5,000 from Firefly Digital — was questionable given the firm is a ‘dormant company’. The Tory leadership contender later updated the entry to be from Firefly Capital — but that hasn’t placated the Starmtroopers.
As Sir Keir’s conference was shrouded in confusion over frockgate, Mr S isn’t surprised his party are pointing fingers. But after revelations that wealthy Labour donor Lord Alli funded the Starmers’ wardrobes, covered part of Angela Rayner’s New York holiday and even let the now-PM give a Covid-era briefing from his luxury penthouse, will voters get on board with this latest Labour stunt? A source close to Jenrick says: ‘All this nonsense does is prove who Labour fear the most.’ With Starmer polling more negatively than Sunak, perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures…
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