Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that it is “important” to look at a “human story” behind a donation as he defended the use of accommodation for his son to study for his GCSEs during the general election campaign.
Following the reporting of the donation, Sir Keir told Sky News that he was not going to “let my son fail or not do well” in his exams while journalists were outside the family home in north London.
He had previously told LBC that he was “not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong” as he defended his decision to take the gift.
Speaking to Sky News from New York City, where he is attending the UN General Assembly, Sir Keir said that the election had been called “not when we expected it”.
“My son happened to be in the middle of his GCSEs,” he added.
“That means there are a lot of journalists outside the front door and in the street.”
He said he is “not complaining”, but “if you’re 13, as my girl is, if you’re 16 as my boy is, that’s quite hard to navigate when you’re concentrating on GCSEs,” he said.
Sir Keir explained: “I said, ‘we’re going to get you out of here and get you somewhere where you can just study and get to school and back without having to go through all of that’.
“And that’s when someone says, well, in which case I can make this flat available to you.
“It’s safe, secure, he can get on.”
The Prime Minister later went on: “I do think sometimes it’s important just to look behind the number and say, ‘what was the human story behind’”.
“I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside,” he added.
Sir Keir was also asked about donations in a series of interviews following his speech to the Labour Party annual conference that were broadcast on Wednesday morning.
He said that about £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli for unspecified accommodation was for his teenager to study for exams in a “peaceful” atmosphere.
Political news website Guido Fawkes later alleged he used the same accommodation in December 2021 to record a Christmas video message during the Covid-19 pandemic, broadcast during a period when the previous government had promoted working from home to stem the spread of the Omicron variant.
Number 10 has insisted no rules were broken.
“My boy, 16, was in the middle of his GCSEs. I made him a promise, a promise that he would be able to get to his school, do his exams, without being disturbed,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We have lots of journalists outside our house where we live and I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine.
“But if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs and it’s your one chance in life – I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.
“Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that. I took that up and it was the right thing to do.”
Asked whether he would like to apologise for the row, he told LBC: “I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.”
The row over declarations by MPs and senior ministers had threatened to overshadow the Labour conference, with criticism aimed at both the PM and his ministers for accepting luxury gifts from wealthy donors while announcing cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
Sir Keir has said ministers will no longer take donations for clothing now they are in Government, but left the door open to receiving more access to events, such as the £4,000 worth of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert he accepted from the Premier League.
Conservative Party Headquarters (CCHQ) had earlier published a list of questions about the accommodation and its reported links to filming before Christmas in 2021.
The questions “how long was the penthouse used?”, “did he stay overnight?” and “why was Lord Alli’s penthouse used for filming, given the video portrayed it as Keir Starmer’s family home?” were among the list.
Conservative shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: “This row isn’t about the preferential treatment he has given his child during their education, whilst taxing the schooling of thousands of others, nor is it about him and his wife being lavished with designer clothes whilst pensioners face the choice between heating and eating this winter.
“This is about Keir Starmer, and his top team, thinking the rules don’t apply to them. They have become utterly addicted to luxury clothing, holidays and services provided by their mega donor whilst expecting everyone else to tighten their belt. Why does he always think he’s a special case?
“Labour promised to be a government of service but all they’ve offered is a government of self-service.”
