As ‘Free Gear Keir’ sets about to pay back *some* of his eye-watering freebie slush funds, a new petition is calling to ban the farce that is political donations altogether. This is because Labour Party PM Starmer’s feeble repayment hardly gets to the heart of the matter. Specifically, this is the staggering scale of donor-bought influence in UK politics.
Political donations: ban freebies petition
As the new petition itself states:
Prime minister Keir Starmer has agreed to repay £6,000 of ‘freebie’ gifts, in a bid to end the latest donor scandal.
But this goes much further than clothes, glasses and concert tickets – and MPs from all parties have been at it.
In other words, suits, specs, and Swift tickets are one thing. However, the culture of slimy political wheel greasing is quite another. It goes on to point out that who’s buying their way into politicians’ good favour is also relevant:
MPs routinely enjoy ‘hospitality’ at the expense of lobbyists, from sports tickets paid for by gambling companies all the way up to all-expenses-paid foreign trips funded by repressive regimes.
So, that would be, a who’s who of moneyed miscreants and corporate parasites then.
But as the petition also notes, this is perfectly legal under the current rules. MPs only need to declare these. It also points out that many other countries have banned this practice. They have done so for precisely the predicament the UK now finds itself in. That is, another scandal of cash-for-favours.
Donors expecting something in return
One of the political donations petition signee – Alison – expressed the stark double-standards at play because:
Accepting gifts in my occupation is a sackable offence. Those in a position of power should not be any different to the general public.
Echoing this, the petition underscored that rules for UK civil servants already ban gifts and hospitality. So, the signee is quite right that politicians – many elevated way above their station anyway – shouldn’t get a free pass on this.
Robin, another signee highlighted that these freebies are on top of enormous salaries already:
With their salaries they can afford to pay their own way. Also, it is a conflict of interest. It is outrageous.
That is, MPs are on £91,346 in pay, let alone other expenses they can – and do – claim for. The donation-flush prime minister gets over £167,000.
Plenty of other petition signees were also calling it out for what it is: shameless political bribery. As Gaynor neatly summed up:
Nobody gives an MP a freebie without expecting a return.
And that’s the rub. Starmer and his cabinet have been bought by malevolent moneyed actors. Crucially, they’ll be seeking political favours somewhere down the line.
So, you can sign the petition to put a stop this here.
Labour wheels Ashworth out for crisis management
I’m sure Starmer and his top brass have already had a Cobra-style war room on #FreeGearKeir-gate to trade ideas on how to arrest back control of the spiralling political donations scandal. At Lord Alli’s flat most probably.
And the best the boneheads leading the country could come up with? Insert whichever hare-brained snivelling Labour right cabinet grifter you like here: “I’ve got it. PAy SoME Of iT BaCk!”
Yes, this is the government’s grand plan to win back the public.
Cue, just the ‘Jonathan Partridge-moment Ashworth’ the government needs to save the day. The corporate media will be dressing him up in comic-strip superhero spandex pronto. Here he is on one of his favourite post-election loss haunts, ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Naturally, he got the Ed Balls red carpet roll-out treatment, because he’s a right-wing Labour chum:
Jonathan Ashworth explains why Keir Starmer is paying back some of the ‘gifts’ hes taken, but is keeping the rest.
Ashworth, like the govt, continues to pretend the problem the public has is around politicians declaring bribes, rather than taking them in the first place #GMB pic.twitter.com/a2dYWEVK2k
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) October 3, 2024
Now, we know the prime minister and his cabinet probably already have Ashworth on speed dial for just such public relations crises. After all, they’ll be drafting the washed-up former politician in as a special advisor for just these type of cock-ups – likely any day now. But excuse me? The problem is around the RULES of ministerial declarations?
Truly staggering proportions of delusion. I raise you: the out-of-touch political class of Labour government 2024.
Fessing up to bribery from Labour’s corporate liege lords? Get real – it changes nothing. Clearly, the issue isn’t that MPs aren’t disclosing these gifts and donations. Although, that is another element to this, as openDemocracy’s blistering expose on Lord Alli’s failure to declare his full financial interests has aptly demonstrated.
However, in all instances, the main issue is that these vested capitalist interests are in politics in the first place.
Crony capitalist cabinet with their crony political donations
Yes, it’s an insult that a prime minister earning £160k salary is pocketing tens of thousands in political donations. Particularly when Sir Kid Starver is keeping children in poverty through the two-child limit on benefits, and nabbing what amounts to chump change to him from your nan this winter.
And obviously, everyone knows the prime minister is only repaying these gifts because he’s been caught with his trousers down. Because we’re quite sure the sugar-baby PM and his nepo-baby-coddling donor-funded spending spree rules out that the man has even a fibre of integrity. Though, after years of back-stabbing, U-turns, and deceit to grasp power, that’s not surprising. Plus, it’s £6,000 out of tens of thousands more he’s received anyway.
But more than this, it’s that Labour is unleashing its brutal ode to Tory austerity because it wants to keep the working class firmly under the thumb of its capitalist paymasters. Essentially then, these are bungs for maintaining the billionaire profit-swelling, tax-dodging status quo. Fossil fuel firms, arms companies, gambling corporations, housing developers, big pharma – they’re all buying influence – and getting something out of it.
There’s nothing another flush of cash from Israel lobby multi-millionaire funded think tank Labour Together can’t fix though eh Starmer? Whether it’s the Tories or this New New Labour government, it’s corrupt crony capitalists running the country all round. By all means, ban the freebies, but this should be just the start of exorcising the malign corporate forces that have ensnared UK politics for far too long.
Featured image via the Canary
