Sir Keir Starmer refuses to apologise for freebies after accepting £20,000 flat for his son's GCSE revision
The Prime Minister is under pressure over a series of donations from Lord Alli which included clothes, glasses and the use of a house.
The Labour peer was then given a Downing Street pass after the election for help with “transition work”.
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Hide AdSir Keir asked about donations in a series of interviews from New York City, where he is attending the UN General Assembly.
He said that about £20,000 he had declared from Lord Alli for unspecified accommodation was for his teenager to study for exams in a “peaceful” atmosphere.
The Prime Minister told Sky News that the election had been called “not when we expected it”.
“My son happened to be in the middle of his GCSEs,” he added.
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Hide Ad“That means there are a lot of journalists outside the front door and in the street.”


Sir Keir explained: “I said, ‘we’re going to get you out of here and get you somewhere where you can just study and get to school and back without having to go through all of that’.
“And that’s when someone says, well, in which case I can make this flat available to you. It’s safe, secure, he can get on.”
The Prime Minister later went on: “I do think sometimes it’s important just to look behind the number and say, ‘what was the human story behind’”.
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Hide Ad“I wasn’t going to let my son fail or not do well in his GCSEs because of journalists outside,” he added.
He had previously told LBC that he was “not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong” as he defended his decision to take the gift.
Sir Keir has said ministers will no longer take donations for clothing now they are in Government, but left the door open to receiving more access to events, such as the £4,000 worth of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert he accepted from the Premier League.
The Prime Minister flew straight from Liverpool to New York for the UN General Assembly, ahead of his address last night.
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Hide AdSpeaking at the UN Security Council, he said Russia was responsible for “colossal human suffering” as a result of the conflict.
Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out bringing in legislation to force pubs to close to earlier for public health reasons.
On Monday, public health and prevention minister Andrew Gwynne suggested “tightening up on some of the hours of operation”, according to The Telegraph.
But the Department of Health and Social Care said it was “categorically untrue” to suggest it was considering changes to licensing policy.
The Prime Minister ruled out changes to opening hours on LBC to Nick Ferrari.
He said: “This is not government policy. We are not going to do it.
"Closing time is not going to change. I can give you that guarantee, Nick, and if we leave now, we might just get there in time for a quick pint.”
The government is reportedly considering cracking down on pub smoking areas.
He said Russia, like the UK one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, was behind the “greatest violation of the (UN) charter in a generation”.
“I wonder how Russia can show its face in this building,” he added.
Sir Keir said: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illegal. It threatens global security. And it has caused colossal human suffering.
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Hide Ad“Over 35,000 civilians have been killed or injured, six million forced to flee and almost 20,000 Ukrainian children forcefully deported. Kidnapped, to put it bluntly.”
Some 600,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded, Sir Keir said.
“The UN Charter – which they sit here to uphold – speaks of human dignity. Not treating your own citizens as bits of meat to fling into the grinder,” he added.
Sir Keir said “there must be accountability” to show that “aggression cannot pay”.
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Hide Ad“Russia started this illegal war. It must end it – and get out of Ukraine,” he said.
Sir Keir also urged Britons to leave Lebanon immediately to escape the escalating violence, as he addressed the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
In a blunt message to Israel at the UN Security Council, he said Benjamin Netanyahu’s government needed to do more to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
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