Labour minister squirms as she struggles to work out how to defend Keir Starmer's freebies

Labour struggled to defend the ongoing freebies row today, after a Tory MP secured a debate on ministerial gifts and hospitality.

Minister Ellie Reeves stuttered and faltered as she fielded furious questions over the row, as she accused the Conservatives of “cynical and confected outrage” over the standards row.

Top Tory John Glen led the charge, tearing into Keir Starmer and other ministers and accusing Labour of being “beset by a series of scandals involving freebies”.

Mr Glen, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, blasted: “Amid scandals like ‘cash for croissants’, ‘free gear Keir’, and ‘glasses for passes’, where is Labour’s new ethics and integrity commission?

“What have Labour donors got in return for their generosity?”

He set out a series of crucial questions that Keir Starmer and the government must answer surrounding the numerous sleaze scandals, including:

• Why can’t this millionaire Prime Minister clothe himself without help from others?
• What gifts and hospitality can ministers now accept?
• Can Cabinet ministers continue to party in DJ booths in Ibiza?
• Will ministers be banned from taking junkets at the Oasis ’25 tour? Or was it just Taylor Swift that was a handout too far?
• What role did Downing Street play in the VIP escort, further to the free tickets, for Taylor Swift?

He accused Keir Starmer of now having a conflict of interest due to the “sheer scale” of his free donations.

Cabinet Office minister Ellie Reeves struggled to explain why Keir Starmer had paid back around £6,000 in freebies, and whether other ministers are now expected to do the same.

She also refused to answer questions about why the Attorney General had been asked to issue advice around granting Taylor Swift a VVIP security escort during her London tour, with senior Labour figures then being given free tickets to her show.

Labour was also blasted by the SNP, with MP Brendan O’Hara pointing out that Angela Rayner once promised “honesty matters, integrity matters and decency matters - we should be ambitious for high standards and we should all be accountable”.

“Labour promised change but the truth is they’re not that different from the sleaze that went before.

“What the public sees is the Labour Party saying ‘it’s our turn now’ - they’re acting like peas in a pod!”

Meanwhile former Tory Party chairman Richard Holden accused Ms Reeves of having an “utterly tone deaf response” to questions on behalf of an angry public.

Labour insisted that it remains committed to transparency and high standards, and will introduce a new system to increase transparency around ministerial donations and interests.

At the moment ministers’ interests are only published quarterly, while MPs' are published monthly.

They also do not have to declare the value of tickets, unlike MPs.

Ms Reeves said Keir Starmer will publish an updated ministerial code “shortly”, which will include additional guidance to ministers on the principles they should apply when accepting gifts or hospitality.