John Swinney ‘stunned’ at Prime Minister clothing donations row

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Scotland’s First Minister has said he was “stunned” to hear that Sir Keir Starmer had accepted clothing donations.

John Swinney said that Sir Keir has now done the right thing, after it emerged that he and his most senior ministers will no longer accept donations to pay for their clothes, but that it should never have happened in the first place.

The Prime Minister and his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer, have faced scrutiny over the acceptance of gifts, including clothing, from prominent Labour donor and peer Lord Alli.

Neither Sir Keir Starmer, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner nor Chancellor Rachel Reeves will accept such donations in the future.

Mr Swinney said he was very surprised when news of the donations first emerged.

He told the PA news agency: “I think, like most members of the public, my jaw dropped when I heard this story emerging.

“I just never, ever thought this happened. I just was stunned by it. So I’m not surprised they’re stopping doing it, because it’s completely ridiculous, and I certainly don’t think that this is the way that well-paid public servants should be operating.”

Asked whether the Prime Minister and senior ministers have done the right thing by saying they will no longer accept clothing he said: “Yes, but they shouldn’t have been doing it in the first place.”

Mr Swinney said he has never been offered donations of clothing.

Sir Keir says he has followed all the rules on accepting donations.

In recent weeks the Prime Minister, an avid Arsenal fan, has also come under pressure for accepting more than £35,000 of free football tickets over the last Parliament.

Although he is an Arsenal season ticket holder, Sir Keir told the BBC on Thursday that security concerns meant he could no longer watch games from the stands without a large and expensive police presence.

He told the BBC he was “not going to ask the taxpayer to indulge me to be in the stands when I could go and sit somewhere else where the club and the security say it’s safer for me to be”.

Mr Swinney said that he has not received sporting tickets as donations, though he has attended matches to which he was invited in his capacity as First Minister, such as when he was invited to the Scotland v Poland game by the Scottish Football Association.

Speaking in Glasgow on Saturday, he was asked if he would stop attending such events, and said he would carry on doing so in his official capacity.

He replied: “That’s an event I’ve been invited to in my capacity as First Minister. So I’m certainly going to carry on doing that, because I will fulfil my duties as First Minister.”

He said that politicians have got to be “absolutely transparent” about such matters.

He added: “There are very clear rules about all of these things, and they should set out exactly what they’re doing in that respect.”