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One in every of Labour’s greatest donors, Lord Waheed Alli, was given a safety move to Downing Road, the place he was concerned in organising an occasion, compounding claims of cronyism within the new authorities.
Alli, a Labour peer and media entrepreneur who was concerned in creating the TV present Survivor, helped organise a post-election occasion within the backyard of Quantity 10 to thank donors and volunteers after the election on July 4.
Alli was given a brief move after the final election final month and handed it again a number of weeks in the past, in keeping with a Downing Road spokesperson, who mentioned the move was as a result of expire on the finish of August.
He attended a small variety of political conferences the place no civil servants have been current and his involvement was totally throughout the guidelines, they added.
Alli was made a lord by former prime minister Tony Blair in 1998, at 34, making him the youngest and first brazenly homosexual individual within the Home of Lords at the moment.
He has donated greater than £400,000 to Labour and its MPs since 2020, when Starmer turned chief of the occasion.
He has additionally made a number of presents to MPs, together with a £1.2mn mortgage to assist MP Siobhain McDonagh transfer home in order that her sick sister could possibly be cared for, £16,200 for Starmer to purchase work clothes, and £20,000 in lodging prices for the prime minister throughout the election marketing campaign.
Over the previous 12 months, Alli has made donations to 4 cupboard ministers: Starmer, overseas secretary David Lammy, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and training secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Shadow paymaster basic John Glen MP mentioned that “Starmer’s sleaze is engulfing this new authorities”.
“It’s time Labour got here clear on all of the folks they’ve parachuted into prime civil service jobs and the donors they’ve returned favours to so the independence and integrity of the civil service is maintained,” he mentioned.
Shadow safety minister Tom Tugendhat, who’s hoping to turn into the subsequent chief of the Tory occasion, mentioned that “it’s time to reset our relationship with the British folks and rebuild the belief misplaced to such a sleaze and dishonesty, which is rotting our politics to its core”.
Tugendhat mentioned Starmer lacked management, and had “critical inquiries to reply”, together with whether or not he was concerned in giving the move to Alli and which actual conferences the businessman attended.
A senior authorities determine mentioned that Waheed was a “huge a part of the election marketing campaign” and a “vastly revered determine”. “He gained’t have been concerned in any coverage or authorities conferences,” they added.
Alli has been contacted for remark. Information of his having been given entry to the prime minister’s office and official house, first reported by the Sunday Occasions, comes amid a brewing row across the appointment of Labour donors to civil service roles.
The brand new Labour authorities got here underneath fireplace earlier this month for hiring Ian Corfield, a former banker and enterprise adviser who made political donations to chancellor Rachel Reeves, to a senior position within the Treasury.
Following criticism of the appointment, Corfield has opted to depart the paid authorities place and as a substitute tackle a job as a brief, unpaid adviser to the Treasury, in keeping with folks briefed on the transfer.
Former marketing consultant Emily Middleton was additionally named a director-general within the Division for Science, Innovation and Expertise after she was seconded to the Labour occasion whereas it was in opposition.
The agency the place she was a associate, Public Digital, had provided secondments value greater than £65,000 to the crew of Peter Kyle, shadow know-how secretary on the time, together with Middleton’s personal place.
