Victoria Starmer made a triumphal entrance to the Labour Party conference today alongside Sir Keir, donning a £1,100 designer dress despite a furious row over clothing freebies.
Lady Starmer dazzled in socialist red as she joined her PM husband for a procession into the Liverpool showpiece, ahead of his speech to the faithful this afternoon.
She was wearing a maxi ‘Echo’ dress by one of her favourite designers, Edeline Lee, having been in the front row for her London Fashion week show last week.
A spokesman for the brand said it had ‘loaned’ the garment to Lady Starmer from its ‘press sample collection’ for the event.
She wore a similar red dress by the designer for the same event last year, when her husband was leader of the opposition, and appeared to have recycled the same belt.
But it comes as she and Sir Keir and several of his top ministers face questions over their acceptance of money from a Labour donor to go towards clothes and a personal shopper.
Her glamourous entrance under the grey Merseyside skies was a fast departure from her dressed-down approach this morning, when she wore a t-shirt and jogging bottoms by a local brand as she joined Sir Keir for breakfast with party members in the conference hotel.
Lady Starmer dazzled in socialist red as she joined her PM husband for a procession into the Liverpool showpiece, ahead of his speech to the faithful this afternoon.
She was wearing a maxi dress by one of her favourite designers, Edeline Lee, having been in the front row for her London Fashion week show last week (below)
As the storm broke last week she took a front row seat at a London Fashion Week show.
Her glamourous entrance under the grey Merseyside skies was a fast departure from her dressed-down approach this morning, when she wore a t-shirt and jogging bottoms by a local brand as she joined Sir Keir for breakfast with party members in the conference hotel.
Keir Starmer launched a bid to reboot his fledgling premiership today as he begs Brits to stick with his ‘painful choices’ rather than go down the ‘road to nowhere’.
This morning 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 Suzi trousers from its Made in England collection as they joined Labour members and officials at the Pullman Hotel in Liverpool this morning, taking a booth for a very public breakfast.
It is the second year in a row she has worn the Liverpool brand’s clothes at the conference. Last year she wore one of its Green Organic hoodies. It confirmed she bought and paid for the outfit herself.
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.
She wore a similar red dress by the designer for the same event last year, when her husband was leader of the opposition (pictured)
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.
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.
It is the second year in a row she has worn the Liverpool brand’s clothes at the conference. Last year she wore one of its Green Organic hoodies. It confirmed she bought and paid for the outfit herself.
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.
