“Starmer’s rise was bankrolled in the shadows. Polling. Speechwriting. Campaign support. All provided by Labour Together. None declared,” says Conservative Party Chairman.
Keir Starmer is facing fresh questions over his honesty and transparency after Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards calling for an investigation into the Prime Minister’s undeclared links to Labour Together.
Hollinrake accuses Starmer of quietly benefiting from “potentially thousands of pounds’ worth of advice and polling via the members’ association Labour Together” during his 2020 leadership bid, while failing to record any of it in his Register of Members’ Interests.
“The Parliamentary rules are clear that ‘support in kind’ from Labour Together should have been declared, but it was not,” Hollinrake wrote.
The Tory complaint leans heavily on the Commons Code of Conduct, which explicitly requires MPs to register support valued above £1,500, including “support in kind” such as advice, research or information services. Hollinrake argues the rules leave no room for doubt: Starmer should have declared the help.
The controversy is amplified by Labour Together’s chequered record. In 2021 the Electoral Commission fined the group £14,250 after identifying more than 20 breaches of donation-reporting rules covering 2017 to 2020. Hollinrake says “new evidence has since come to light which raises questions as to whether this failure was deliberate, in an attempt to mislead the Electoral Commission.”
Labour Together itself has boasted of “rallying the party membership behind Keir Starmer” and “uniting the party behind Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign.” Media reports suggest the group, under the direction of Morgan McSweeney, now Starmer’s chief of staff, spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on polling that guided Starmer’s strategy. Hollinrake notes that McSweeney was at the time responsible for legal compliance, yet none of this support was recorded.
The Prime Minister’s silence stands in stark contrast to his colleagues. Rachel Reeves declared more than £13,000 worth of “research and writing services” from Labour Together in 2021–22, while Lucy Powell registered a £5,000 donation in 2020 for office costs linked to the group. Starmer’s register contains nothing.
“Given the scale and nature of the reported assistance Labour Together provided to Keir Starmer, it is evident that he should have registered this support,” Hollinrake wrote. “Failure to do so appears to constitute a breach of the House of Commons Code of Conduct.”
Starmer’s allies have attempted to brush off the claims, insisting his campaign “did not receive any monetary or in-kind support” from Labour Together. But such denials will do little to ease the suspicion that the Labour leader’s rise to the top was bankrolled in the shadows and concealed from public view.
If the Standards Commissioner opens an investigation and finds wrongdoing, Starmer could face serious consequences for failing to follow the rules that he insists others must obey. For a Prime Minister, the allegations cut to the heart of credibility.
Hollinrake’s final words to the Commissioner left little doubt about the seriousness of the charge: “I respectfully request that you investigate this matter to determine whether the Prime Minister failed in his duty to register donations and support in kind received from Labour Together during his Labour leadership campaign.”
The Commissioner’s office will not confirm whether it will open a case, but reports suggest the Electoral Commission is already considering the evidence. For Starmer, the questions about Labour Together and his undeclared support are not going away.
When the fate of nations is at stake, a fine of £14,250 is laughable.
But then, it is the Electoral Commission. I wonder what the fine would have been if it the offending organisation were supporting the right.