no 10 downing street: starmer will no longer accept clothing gifts
2024-09-21
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china news service, london, september 21 (reporter ouyang kaiyu) in response to outside criticism of british prime minister keir starmer for accepting gifts from wealthy businessmen, no. 10 downing street responded that starmer will no longer accept such gifts.
earlier media reports said that british media entrepreneur and long-term labour party donor wahid ali provided starmer with clothes and glasses worth thousands of pounds, which was questioned by public opinion.
in response, no. 10 downing street said on the evening of the 20th that starmer will no longer accept clothing gifts in the future. in addition, deputy prime minister angela rayner and chancellor of the exchequer rachel reeves will also refuse such gifts.
according to british regulations, mps can accept gifts, but must declare the gift amount and extra-parliamentary income within 28 days. british media reported on the 21st that starmer has declared gifts and entertainment worth more than 100,000 pounds (about 930,000 yuan) since december 2019. although starmer denied any wrongdoing, the british prime minister admitted that these gifts were "politically damaging."
in addition to the gift issue, the issue of starmer's special adviser gray's excessive salary has also recently caused discussion within the british government.
after the british general election, starmer's special adviser grey received a pay raise, and her annual salary reached 170,000 pounds (about 1.59 million yuan), which means that grey not only earns more than the cabinet ministers, but even 3,000 pounds (about 28,000 yuan) more than the british prime minister.
in recent days, the british media has widely reported complaints and dissatisfaction expressed by government insiders about this matter. the labour party responded that it had never interfered in the relevant salary setting.
labour said the gray salary leak and revelations about gifts were being hyped by the conservatives and their media supporters to discredit the government.
