SIR Keir Starmer last night furiously denied he tried to con the public into thinking a penthouse borrowed from a millionaire pal was his family home.
The Prime Minister is under fire for filming a Covid video urging people to work from home in a luxury pad owned by his Labour donor pal Lord Alli.
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In the background of the video, filmed three years ago, somebody has placed a pic of the Starmer family — making it look like his own home.
But Sir Keir yesterday claimed the latest freebie accusation against him was “farcial”, as he scrambled to counter allegations he “pulled the wool of people’s eyes”.
Grilled in New York over why he tried to create the impression the penthouse was his home, he said: “Anybody who thinks that I was pretending it was my own home — that I’ve got Union Jacks by my fireplace, or that I would invite you lot into my living room to have a look around — I mean, it’s pretty farcical.”
But the whole freebies saga has rocked the start of his fledgling premiership — and overshadows his trip to the United Nations — with more revelations of dodgy gifts mounting by the day.
READ MORE ON KEIR STARMER
Storm not going away
The under-fire PM last night denied any rules had been broken — yet accepted it has sparked a voter backlash.
He said: “I understand why the public have questions about this. I think the best thing we can do is to explain the circumstances and be absolutely clear that nothing wrong has been done here.
“Everybody has complied with all of the rules.”
Despite indignant attempts to defuse the row, the storm is not going away last night.
Tory MP Kieran Mullan MP said: “This appears to be an attempt to pull the wool over the public into believing Keir Starmer was at home.
“He needs to explain why he put up family pictures if not to mislead people.”
Sir Keir has already tried to justify £20,000 worth of stays at the same Central London flat while his son revised for exams. He claimed his son needed to get away from the commotion of the family home in north London at the time of the election.
Sir Keir angrily refuted suggestions the megabucks Labour donor was influencing his government in a cash-for-access type scandal.
He said last night: “He’s a Labour Lord, so he wanted a Labour victory. That was his sole motivation.”
But the Tories last night ramped up the pressure on Sir Keir demanding answers over whether donations from Lord Alli were declared in the correct fashion.
They point out that just hours after being elected, the PM pledged to put “country first, party second”.
Ex-Minister John Glen has written to Sir Keir calling for him to be “open and accountable” following the recent controversies.
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The shadow Paymaster General asks whether the PM has now declared the donations to senior civil servants or Sir Laurie Magnus who is the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests.
The Tories also demand to know whether the £18million penthouse — which was used for political filming — was declared with the Commons’ authorities.
Questions have also been raised by the Tories on who signed off on Lord Alli’s pass for Downing Street despite claims Number 10 are hiding behind security concerns.
Mr Glen added: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
UNION BOSS 2030 SWIPE
BRITAIN would have to build a wind turbine the size of the Eiffel Tower every day until 2030 to reach Labour’s clean energy target, a union boss says.
GMB leader Gary Smith hit out at the plan to stop using fossil fuels for electricity by the end of the decade, amid fears it could destroy a million jobs.
He told ITV: “2030 clean energy target isn’t going to be hit.”
Mr Smith says it would be more realistic to have a target of 2050 as part of the move to net zero.
He represents thousands of oil and gas workers hit by the decision to speed up the phasing out of North Sea oil and gas drilling.
He fears that jobs will be created abroad instead of at home.
By Ryan Sabey
Non-dom doom
THE Chancellor is being warned her tax crackdown on wealthy non-doms is falling apart and will fail to raise any extra cash.
Rachel Reeves is struggling to win backing from spending watchdogs, who fear it could end up costing the Treasury money.
Her plan could push the super-rich out of the UK, leaving a £1billion funding gap for schools and hospitals, it is suggested.
Curerntly, those who are registered as not domiciled pay no UK tax on any earnings from overseas. Ms Reeves is said to want to press ahead with closing the loophole but there may be changes before the Budget.
Critics believe she risks driving away investment from the UK.
Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “Labour fail to understand the importance of globally competitive rates to our economy.”
By Ryan Sabey
