Starmer’s Covid broadcast urging work from home recorded in donor’s £18m penthouse

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer recorded a Covid-era broadcast urging the public to work from home from a Labour donor’s £18 million penthouse.

The Christmas message, broadcast in December 2021, was reportedly filmed at a flat belonging to Lord Waheed Alli - a donor who has handed hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Labour Party over the last two decades.

It came five days after the previous Conservative government presided over new guidance to limit the spread of a new Covid-19 variant, including recommendations to work from home when possible.

The footage was identified as having been recorded from Lord Alli’s flat by the Guido Fawkes website, as the designer shelves had previously appeared in a video from inside the penthouse.

In his Christmas broadcast, Christmas cards and a picture of Sir Keir and his family can be seen on the shelves behind him.

On Wednesday, it emerged he used the flat during his son’s GCSE exam revision, telling the BBC: “I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying. Somebody then offered me accommodation where we could do that.”

The Christmas broadcast aired on BBC One at 7pm on December 13 2021, the same day new Covid guidance urging people to work from home came into force.

But Labour sources have insisted that all guidance was followed completely and no rules were broken.

This is not the first time the prime minister has faced serious questions over potential lockdown rule breaches. He and party campaigners were cleared by Durham police of the so-called “beergate” party in April 2021 when the Labour leader was forced to admit more people were present than originally claimed as well as having to admit Angela Rayner was present after initially denying it.

The Covid broadcast saw the Labour leader urge the public to resist the temptation to break from the guidance over the Christmas period and work from home where possible.

He said: “Let’s pull together now and do the right thing once more. At times like this, we must all put the national interest first and play by the rules.

“Of course, I understand that sticking to the rules can be inconvenient, but stick to the rules we must.”

The latest revelations come amid a growing row over donations accepted by senior Labour figures, with the prime minister repeatedly having to defend his party’s acceptance of hospitality and gifts.

On Wednesday evening, Labour MP Zarah Sultana took aim at her own party over the donations row, saying: “Google provided £10,000 of hospitality to senior Labour figures & the party ditched plans to raise the Digital Services Tax.

“Quadrature, a Cayman Islands hedge-fund which invests in fossil fuels, donated £4m & its climate advisory board co-chair is now Climate Envoy. It stinks.”

The Digital Services Tax, introduced in 2020, is a two per cent levy on the UK income of online companies. In August last year, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and the then shadow chancellor colleague Rachel Reeves had called for an increase in the tax to ten per cent, saying the income would be used to fund a slash in tax for small businesses but later abandoned the plan after accepting thousands of pounds worth of hospitality.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn ally Diane Abbott suggested Labour policies were for sale, posting on X: “Streeting claims people giving big money to political parties are the same as people who donate to animal charities.

“Nonsense. People give money to political parties to buy politicians.”

The Labour Party has been contacted for comment.