Prime Ministers for Sale – cheap! cheap!

This Green and Surprisingly Pleasant Land asks why on earth British prime ministers are so keen to be compromised by gifts from the rich

Is it possible that someone earning just under £167,000 per year cannot afford to buy his own clothes or pay his own way to go and watch footie or even join the masses flocking to Taylor Swift’s latest world tour?

Obviously this question relates to a mini-scandal engulfing Keir Starmer, the newly installed British Prime Minister. After it erupted he offered not to take any more gifts of clothes and spectacles but remained silent on other gifts that have been coming his way.

Like many of his predecessors he seems to be dubiously attracted to the kind of rich people who are evidently keen to hand out largesse to political leaders. Their motives are usually obscure, maybe it is because they like the idea of access to these people or maybe they are looking for some more significant form of payback.

The wonder is that Sir Keir (not to mention other senior colleagues in the cabinet) sunk so quickly into this cesspit so soon after coming into office promising clean and responsible government.

To be fair the new PM has not descended to the levels of money grabbing from the rich reached by Boris Johnson who famously complained of the stress of living on such a small salary. But comparisons with the serial scrounger Mr. Johnson set the bar far too low.

There is a recurrent pattern of Number 10 Downing Street residents hooking up with rich sponsors. From the Labour side there was constant controversy over Harold Wilson’s predilection for taking money from rich backers. Tony Blair could barely keep away from the rich.

Even the sainted Margaret Thatcher ended her life effectively totally sponsored by the controversial Barclay brothers.

The argument frequently made is that the office of Prime Minister is poorly paid given the responsibilities and costs involved. Compared to pay in the private sector, PM’s pay is modest and overtime the rate of pay has been much eroded. Back in 1937 the Prime Minister was paid £10,000, worth over £800,000 today.

However British pay rates for this job are not spectacularly low in comparison to other European heads of government. But it should be noted that on paper the leader of the biggest country in the world, Xi Jinping in China, has an official salary of little more than £15,000 but this may well not be the whole story as the closest members of his family are spectacularly rich, suggesting something more than coincidence.

Another irony in the pay stakes is that the highest paid premier in the world comes from one the smallest nations, Singapore. The post, largely occupied by members of the Lee family, pays more than nine times than the salary of the British PM.

In Britain what is staggering is not so much that PMs are getting handouts from the rich as that they are willing to compromise themselves for relatively small sums of money. Yes I know that the £16,200 received by Mr. Starmer for clothes is a lot of money for the many British people struggling to survive on less than £20,000 a year, but it’s small change in the stratosphere of the seriously rich where hotel rooms can cost way more than this for a single night’s stay.

Most politicians have never had access to this kind of money and find themselves in the no doubt thrilling situation where they are actively courted by rich people. In return they dish out, what to them, are insignificant amounts of cash.

It is something of a perfect marriage of convenience. In other countries where outright corruption is rife the sums involved are much more impressive. That is not the case in Britain but even the modest ‘gifts’ to politicians evoke a suspicion of wrong doing regardless of whether the giver expects something in return.

British Members of Parliament, including the Prime Minister, must declare, in a timely fashion, all forms of money received in cash or kind, a relatively recent requirement following countless parliamentary scandals.

In many forms of public life, such as the civil service, the police force and even journalism (don’t laugh we have standards too) gifts are simply forbidden. It is straightforward and promotes but does not guarantee greater levels of integrity.

Why this absolute prohibition does not apply to parliamentarians is a mystery, why they should invite perceptions of impropriety is another mystery and why Keir Starmer saw none of this coming is a bigger worry.

p.s. This cash for clothes furor is also embarrassingly amateur league, if you want to know how it’s really done there is still time to consult a real professional such as Imelda Marcos, wife of the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Her world beating shoe collection didn’t come from pennies she saved in a battered tin.