Keir Starmer faces embarrassment over “use of his office for political parties”

Head of work, sir Keir Starmer was drawn into a dispute between MPs last night over alleged use of the assembly office for a party political campaign.

He was confronted with allegations that he may have violated a code of conduct for MPs by using his taxpayer-funded office to make calls to Zoom ‘Call Keir’.

The Labor leader was portrayed at his headquarters in Westminster when he launched a “virtual public meetings” program last year.

According to party supporters, this first event in the spring of 2020 was followed by a second ‘Call Keir’ meeting at the Labor leader’s office last October.

The program of the one-hour Zoom meetings has been advertised on the Labor Party website as events where “Keir Starmer will listen and answer questions from the public”.

However, the Commons Code of Conduct states that “Members shall ensure that their use of public funds always supports their parliamentary tasks”.

Last night, Harry Fone, campaign manager at the Taxpayers Union, said: “Taxpayers will be angry that the facilities they funded are being used for party-political purposes.

Politicians must remember to serve voters at will and not to abuse the trust of voters and taxpayers.

The rules must apply equally to all members, regardless of rank, and appropriate penalties must be imposed in the event of a breach. ‘

But Labor pointed out that the first event was at the height of Covid’s original prison in 2020, and said: “There were no rules broken. Cooperation with the public is a fundamental part of leading Her Majesty’s opposition

Last week, attorney Sir Keir was confronted with allegations that he did not accept a lucrative second job at the Mischon de Reya law firm in 2017 because then-manager Jeremy Corbyn told him not to do so. But Sir Keir’s office insisted that he had decided for himself not to take over the job.

Labor, meanwhile, accused Boris Johnson of “running away again” from allegations of corruption by stifling further discussion of the horrific standards report, which he tried to block.

Last week, attorney Sir Keir was confronted with allegations that he did not accept a lucrative second job at the Mischon de Reya law firm in 2017 because then-manager Jeremy Corbyn told him not to do so. Pictured Nov. 8 in a shared home

MEPs are expected to endorse a report by the Standards Committee tomorrow in which senior Tory Owen Paterson pleaded guilty to paid advocacy and demanded that Paterson, who has now resigned as an MP, be suspended from Parliament for 30 days.

That move would end a shameful turnaround for Mr Johnson after his bid to block the Paterson report failed ten days ago.

But Labor protested that the move was scheduled for tomorrow’s end of the proceedings and there was probably no time for discussion.

Deputy Labor leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson was “running away” from the dispute again.