Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour is “in the pocket of millionaires”, Diane Abbott has said on the eve of the party’s annual conference in Liverpool.
The veteran backbencher criticised the Prime Minister after a row over him accepting thousands of pounds for clothes from Lord Alli, a Labour peer and his biggest personal donor.
Sir Keir promised on Friday they would stop taking donations for clothes now that he was in office. Angela Rayner, his deputy, and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, made the same pledge.
Criticising comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Chancellor’s sister and the Labour chairman, Ms Abbott wrote on X: “Ellie Reeves MP says ‘Labour’s general election victory was only possible because under Keir’s leadership we changed the party’.
“Changed it into an organisation whose leaders are in the pocket of millionaires?”
Ms Abbott, a former shadow home secretary and one of the most prominent figures on the Labour Left, posted her remarks alongside a low-resolution photograph of Sir Keir.
The 70-year-old was suspended last year for suggesting Jewish people did not suffer racism “all their lives”, comments she has repeatedly apologised for.
She then had the Labour whip handed back on the eve of the election in the wake of a row over her claims that she had been blocked from standing by Labour chiefs.
Ms Reeves admitted this week she had received almost £7,500 for clothing since 2023 from a friend called Juliet Rosenfield, the widow of a Labour donor.
Sir Keir has not said he will pay the donations back and he has indicated he will continue to have his corporate tickets at Arsenal football club paid for by others.
Lord Alli has given nearly £1 million to Labour and donated £16,200 of “work clothing” to Sir Keir, including suits and glasses. The row spawned the nickname “free-gear Keir”.
The series of revelations has damaged the party in the week before what should have been a celebratory four-day gathering in Liverpool following July’s landslide election victory.
Speaking on Saturday, Ellie Reeves said the conference would be a “momentous occasion” and its first as the governing power in 15 years.
“This is a time to come together and thank Labour activists for their hard work and their belief that a better future is possible, as well as to outline how Labour is already hard at work to deliver the change that people voted for,” she said.
“Labour has delivered a stable, united government for the first time in years.
“We have a long-term, mission-based approach that will tackle the country’s deep-seated problems and deliver on the national renewal the country desperately needs after 14 years of Tory chaos. Change begins now.”
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