PM accepted £20,000 accommodation to help his teenage son study for GCSEs
Sir Keir Starmer accepted accommodation worth £20,000 to help his 16-year-old son study for his GCSE exams, it has emerged.
The prime minister was asked about a donation of £20,437 made by Labour peer Lord Alli from May to July of this year.
Asked about this by the BBC, Sir Keir says: “At the beginning of the election, which we didn’t know when it was going to be called, my boy was in the middle of his GCSEs.
“I made him a promise that he’ll be able to get to his school, do his exams without being disturbed.”
But, Sir Keir says, “we had lots of journalists outside our house where we lived”.
“I’m not complaining about that, that’s fine, but if you’re a 16-year-old trying to do your GCSEs, your one chance in life, I promised him we’d move somewhere, we’d get out of that house, and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying.
“Someone then offered me accommodation where we could do that, I took it up, and it was the right thing to do for my boy, it didn’t cost the taxpayer a penny.”
Asked if that was Lord Alli, Sir Keir says: “Yes, of course.
“But my primary concern wasn’t about influencing government, it was making sure my boy could do his GCSEs without wading through loads of journalists outside the house.
