Victoria Starmer dressed down in high street fashion today as she joined Sir Keir for breakfast ahead of his first Labour conference speech as Prime Minister.
Lady Starmer wore ‘The Stevie’, a £36 plum-coloured organic cotton t-shirt from ‘slow fashion’ brand By Elleven, as they prepared for his major set piece address this afternoon.
She paired it with drawstring trousers as they joined Labour members and officials at the Pullman Hotel in Liverpool this morning, taking a booth for a very public breakfast.
But it comes as the conference is marred by a row over freebies accepted by Sir Keir, his senior ministers and Lady Starmer herself.
She was the recipient of clothes and services including a personal shopper paid for by Labour donor Lord Alli. As the storm broke this week she took a front row seat at a London Fashion Week show.
Lady Starmer wore a £36 plum-coloured organic cotton t-shirt from ‘slow fashion’ brand By Elleven as they prepared for Sir Keir’s major set piece address this afternoon.
They joined Labour members and officials at the Pullman Hotel in Liverpool this morning, taking a booth for a very public breakfast.
But it comes as the conference is marred by a row over freebies accepted by Sir Keir, his senior ministers and Lady Starmer herself. She was the recipient of clothes and services including a personal shopper paid for by Labour donor Lord Alli.
As the storm broke this week she took a front row seat at a London Fashion Week show.
Stories about Downing Street infighting and gifts for ministers are ‘squalls’ that will matter less to the public than the plans the Prime Minister is expected to announce today, minister Pat McFadden insisted this morning.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told BBC Breakfast: ‘As your viewers can probably tell, I’ve been around politics for quite some time.
‘There have been squalls like this in the past. I think what’s important is you work your way through them. We’ve got an important chance to do that today.
‘We’ve got our first speech today from a Labour Prime Minister to a Labour Party conference for 15 years, so it’s a really big moment where the Prime Minister can set out his agenda for the future, which in the end will affect people’s lives much more than any rows in Downing Street or any of the stories that have been in the newspapers the last couple of weeks.’
No 10 has declined to confirm the total value of the gifts to Lady Starmer, nor say when Lord Alli started to pay for her clothing.
The Prime Minister’s wife has been praised for her style, with outfits by designer brands including Me+Em, Needle & Thread and Edeline Lee.
There are no recent records of prime ministers declaring that their partners have been given clothes.
Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah rented high-end outfits for key events, as did Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie.
Sir Keir is facing a major backlash to his decision to accept free tickets to football matches with almost two thirds of Brits saying he should not take them.
The Prime Minister and members of his senior team are under fire for taking tickets to Arsenal games and Taylor Swift concerts at the same time as they prepare a Budget tax raid.
Sir Keir has defended his decision to accept corporate hospitality at the Emirates on security grounds, while Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said it was hard to turn down gig tickets when her daughter is a Swiftie.
Some 64 per cent of all voters polled by YouGov say it is unacceptable for them to do so, including a majority (53 per cent) of Labour voters. Just a quarter of voters thought it was ok.
