PUBLISHED: 01:44, 17 September 2024 | UPDATED: 01:53, 17 September 2024
As the wine flowed at one of Labour peer Lord Alli’s Âlegendary soirees in his Âelegant West End apartment this spring, the conversation turned Âanimatedly to a pressing concern about Sir Keir Starmer.
Over canapes served by catering staff in the London flat to his Labour-supporting guests, the media entrepreneur – whose personal Âfortune is estimated at £200million – took soundings about the state of Starmer’s wardrobe. And there was widespread agreement the Party leader needed to smarten up his act.
‘He always looked so dour,’ remarked one Labour Party source. Others ventured the idea that his wife Victoria, known as Vic to her friends, also needed a helping hand.
The conversation was to some degree Âoutside Lord Alli’s remit. He had been appointed in 2022 by Starmer as the Party’s head of Âfundraising – but had clearly decided to expand his role. For he also discussed ÂStarmer’s sartorial style – or the lack of it – with his old friend Lord Mandelson.
Mandelson, the infamous ‘Prince of Darkness’ of political spin, had long argued that presentation and personal appearance matter hugely in politics. Lord Alli, one of the first openly gay Muslim politicians in the world who arrived in the House of Lords in 1998 wearing a diamond earring, wholeheartedly agreed.
Alli and Mandelson were key members of Tony Blair’s set during his time in Downing Street after the media mogul had made a name for himself by bringing Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast to British television screens. Now they are both back in favour in Labour’s inner circle after being cast into the wilderness during the Corbyn years.
This all helps explain why Alli, the former chairman of online fashion retailer Asos, felt he could step in and offer to pay for some of the Labour leader and his wife’s clothes.
Starmer – who has now been tagged ‘#catwalkKeir’ on social media – declared his own gift from Lord Alli. But, inexplicably, he failed to declare the clothes etc given to his wife – in what has now been dubbed ‘Wardrobegate’. The entire episode has infuriated supporters and opponents alike at a time when his government is taking winter fuel payments from vulnerable pensioners.
Lord Mandelson’s influence in this saga stretches back years. A dapper dresser himself, when he was business secretary in 2009 he famously attended the Burberry fashion show and sat in the front row. He also posed for a photoshoot in society bible Tatler.
It was Mandelson, as head of communications for Labour in the 1980s, who encouraged then Party leader Neil Kinnock to move away from regimental, dark-coloured ties to ones with white polka dots. Labour frontbenchers were ordered to wear sharper suits.
Mandelson spoke earlier this year about the importance of presentation in politics when he compared the current Labour leader’s appearance to Rishi Sunak’s. Talking of Sunak’s notorious slim-fit suits and skinny ties, Mandelson said: ‘They diminish him rather than expand him.’
Turning his attention to Starmer, he said in a radio interview: ‘Ties, clothes, and appearance are not unimportant.’ He also said: ‘Starmer needs to shed a few pounds and that would be an improvement.’
Starmer and his supporters were furious at the time. Wes Streeting, now the Health Secretary and another close friend of Alli, accused Mandelson of ‘fat shaming’. But the message seemed to sink in. Starmer lost weight in the run-up to the election, although he reportedly refused voice and performance training to make his droning nasal tone more interesting and less irritating.
Mandelson also agreed with Alli that Starmer needed to wear crisper, smarter suits and ties. It was decreed that ‘Lady Vic’ needed a make-over even though she has made clear in rare interviews that she is not interested in being a plus-one political spouse.
Both Alli and Mandelson recalled how Cherie Blair, when she was chatelaine of Downing Street, complained bitterly that there was no taxpayer support to fund her wardrobe and that she had spent tens of thousands on outfits for official events.
So the plan was conceived – and it all seemed perfectly straightforward. ‘Waheed was already giving hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations to Labour – so extending it to help dress Keir and Vic seemed a logical step,’ said a source.
‘Waheed also recalled how upset Cherie was back in the day that she was always being attacked in the media over her appearance but had no financial help with her wardrobe,’ said another. ‘Waheed and Peter would have wanted to avoid a re-run for Keir and Vic.’
Starmer is paid £166,786 as PM, lives rent free in 10 Downing Street and Chequers, and has two children at a state school. His wife earns a reputed £50,000 as an NHS occupational health worker. His net worth is an estimated £3million.
Many in the Labour Party find it quite Âextraordinary that a man of his wealth should ever accept free clothes as a perk of the job.
Starmer supporters defend the Prime Minister, however, saying the decision to take the clothes has to be seen in context.
‘I think they thought there was a precedent for prime ministers and their consorts being given financial help with their outfits and never thought that there would be an outcry. They never thought it through properly,’ one said.
Last month, in the so-called ‘passes for glasses’ scandal, it emerged that Alli had been given a rare all-access pass to Downing Street and organised a party in the garden of No 10 for people who had worked on the election campaign. Downing Street still refuses to say who authorised the pass.
Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, also had financial support from Lord Alli to the tune of £20,000 in the year before the General Election to support her political work. Rayner, whose own eccentric wardrobe choices have come under fire, has received £2,230 of clothes from the ME+EM label which has close links to the Labour Party. Her wardrobe choices have on occasion echoed those of Lady Starmer who sported clothes by ME+EM for three days in a row this summer.
The company was founded in 2009 by Clare Hornby who is married to Johnny Hornby, former managing director of the marketing firm TBWA which was responsible for managing Sir Tony Blair’s successful 2001 election campaign. The Hornbys were named in July’s edition of Tatler as one of the nation’s power couples.
But Rayner, unlike Starmer, declared the financial support from the fashion brand in the proper way in the register of financial interests. ‘Angela sympathises with Lady Starmer in that she too has often unfairly been judged by what she’s wearing,’ said another Labour source.
‘But Angela absolutely understood the need for complete transparency over any political donations she received as she gave the Tories such a tough time over cronyism in the last parliament.’
It is a lesson our well dressed Prime Minister and his wife are only now coming to appreciate.
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