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Khan wades in on Labour freebies row

The London mayor said his own approach was to “over declare” on his donations, reports Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (credit GLA)
Sadiq Khan (credit GLA)

Sadiq Khan has said he “understands the concerns” behind the row over hefty donations to senior Labour politicians, while defending the government’s approach to transparency.

The London mayor, who has himself received more than £100,000 in gifts and hospitality since becoming mayor in 2016, said his own policy was to “over declare” donations.

Khan’s comments to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) came a couple of days before Sir Keir Starmer announced that he had decided to pay back more than £6,000 worth of ‘freebies’ received since becoming prime minister.

The repaid donations include the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets, four tickets to the races and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favoured by his wife, Lady Starmer.

Asked about the slew of news stories over recent weeks about gifts received by Sir Keir, his deputy Angela Rayner, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the Labour mayor told the LDRS on Tuesday (1st): “I think the key thing is that whenever anybody receives a donation or a gift in kind, it’s declared – there’s a transparent system.

“I’d say in a respectful way, the reason why we know about this is because Labour politicians have declared it, right? That’s the reason why we know about this.

“But of course I understand the concerns of ‘ordinary people’ – in inverted commas. The fact they’re not going to receive donations, they’re not going to receive gifts in kind, which sort of begs the question, why is there one rule for one profession and one rule for another?”

But the gifts have not meant donors are leveraging undue influence over ministers’ decisions, Khan suggested.

He said: “The concern people have is if that [donation] leads to an unfair advantage. We know in the past there’s been concerns during the Covid pandemic, [with] contracts for PPE being awarded to friends and mates and so forth.

“So the key thing people want to know is that, as a consequence of the donation, the gift, there isn’t then an unfair advantage to the giver of that [gift] and that’s why it’s really important these things are declared.”

In 2023, Khan declared a little over £7,500 in gifts and hospitality – most of which was clearly related to his role as mayor.

They included tickets to major London cultural gigs, such as concerts headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and – this year – Taylor Swift, and to attend Vogue World, an event related to London Fashion Week.

Over the course of his mayoralty however, he has also accepted hundreds of pounds’ worth of free tickets to watch his football team, Liverpool, play against teams outside of London – including Luton, Southampton and Norwich City.

In 2019, he accepted free flights to Spain, worth £200, to watch Liverpool play against Madrid, attending “as a guest of Liverpool FC”.

Asked about some of those Liverpool tickets, he said: “There’s different horses for different courses. So when I go to see a big [sporting] event in London, it could be a cup final, I’m promoting London being the sporting capital of the world.

“When I go to an event at London Fashion Week, it’s because I want London to overtake Milan, Paris and New York as the fashion capital of the world.

“When I meet people that want to invest in London, it’s because I want them to invest in London.

“When I meet Hollywood producers, or when I meet people involved in tackling the climate emergency – who may be celebrities – it’s for a reason. But that’s why I declare them, because it’s really important that there is no secrecy around these issues.

“Sometimes, I go and watch sport because I’m a fan – but I declare that as well, because I’d rather over-declare, than under-declare.”

City Hall rules state that any gift or hospitality worth £50 or over must be registered within 28 days of being received, including details of its source and the reason it was accepted.

Khan has on a few occasions declared gifts of less than £50 – for example, the cost of his meal at the annual London Government Dinner, which this year came to £35.85 and was paid for by the City of London Corporation.

He has also declared far more expensive gifts. Just days after he became mayor in 2016, and despite the role commanding a six-figure salary, he accepted “clothing accessories” from Georgio Armani worth £1,200 as a “congratulations gift” for his election. A few months later, he accepted a suit and accessories from Hugo Boss, worth £1,103.


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