Starmer calls row over using peer's flat 'farcical'

Keir Starmer said yesterday that the row over him borrowing Labour donor Waheed Alli's luxury flat for filming was "farcical" and the public would come to their own judgments about his reasons for taking support from the peer.

- Rowena Mason

The prime minister sought to play down the row over the £18m penthouse when he was asked on a trip to New York about gifts from the Labour peer, including clothing and glasses. He said there was nothing wrong with having used Alli's flat for filming during the Covid pandemic, after questions about why he had not filmed in his own home or his office.

"That was just part of a video we were putting out in relation to, I think it was during Covid. Anybody who thinks that I was pretending it was my own home, the idea that I've got union jacks by my fireplace at home and or that I would invite a bunch of you lot into my living room to have a look around.

"I mean, I think the idea that I was trying to pretend that it was my home is pretty farcical. And no I'm not going to be inviting you in to film me in front of my fireplace. I'm very sorry, that's about the last thing I'd do."