Rayner defends using donor’s New York flat for holiday

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner says she does not believe she has broken parliamentary rules over declaring a stay in a New York flat owned by a Labour donor.

She told the BBC that Lord Waheed Alli was a friend and the trip had been a “personal holiday” but she had been “transparent” by disclosing her use of the apartment because he had donated to her in the past.

The Sunday Times reported that Rayner had stayed in the flat of Lord Alli with Sam Tarry, who was then Labour MP for Ilford South, last December.

As Labour begins its annual conference, there has been criticism of senior government figures including the prime minister and his deputy receiving donations of clothes and other gifts.

Rayner said she understood why people were “frustrated” and “angry” about the issue.

However, she said donations had been “a feature of our politics for a very long time”, with all MPs accepting gifts.

She argued donations were necessary because of the expense of running for office but said it was important politicians were transparent about where they had come from.

Addressing the stay in the New York flat with Tarry, Rayner told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I don’t believe I broke any rules.

“I had the use of the apartment and I disclosed that I had the use of the apartment.

“In fact, I think I was overly transparent because I think it was important despite it being a personal holiday because that person, as a friend, had already donated to me in the past for my deputy leadership.”

However, Rayner was challenged over whether she should also have declared that Tarry stayed in the flat with her.

Parliamentary rules state that members should declare any visit outside the UK they or anyone connected to them take, if a donor pays for “part or all of the visit” because of their “parliamentary or political activities”.

Rayner said she did not believe she had broken any rules by not declaring Tarry stayed in the flat.

“It says if you’re on parliamentary business or if it’s in connection with your parliamentary duties,” she said.

“That’s how I understood it. It was a private holiday.”

Rayner added she did not go to New York with Tarry but she met up with him there.

Asked if Lord Alli had received anything from her in exchange for his donations, Rayner said: “I promised nothing and gave him nothing in return.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Not only has Rayner been living the high life with a free holiday paid for by a donor it appears she has breached the rules by failing to be transparent with her declaration. Rayner must come clean immediately.”

He added that while Labour were “living a life of luxury they’re making ten million pensioners choose between heating and eating”, by scrapping winter fuel payments for older people not on certain benefits.

The relationship between Labour and Lord Alli has come under scrutiny, after it emerged in August he had been given a temporary Downing Street pass, despite having no official government role.

Asked who signed off the pass for Lord Alli, Rayner said she did not know “but it certainly wasn’t because of any donations that he’d given to me”.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has also defended donations she has received from Lord Alli.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House donations totalling £14,000 funded two events held in her capacity as shadow education secretary at the time, despite one being billed to celebrate her 40th birthday.

The invitation said: “You are cordially invited to the 40th birthday party of Bridget Phillipson, Shadow Secretary of State for Education.”

Phillipson said the event was “ahead of my 40th birthday” and an opportunity to bring together journalists, people in the education sector, trade unionists and MPs for a “professional event that took place in Westminster”.

She said the second event was a reception for journalists “again in my role”.

Phillipson added that the donations were declared in line with the rules.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria are also among those who have received thousands of pounds worth of gifts, including clothing, from Lord Alli.

Following criticism, a Downing Street source said on Friday Sir Keir, Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves would not accept any further donations for clothing.

However, the row risks overshadowing the party’s annual conference in Liverpool, which began on Sunday.

Sir Keir has also faced questions over whether there are tensions within No 10 between his chief of staff Sue Gray and senior officials.

Earlier this week, the BBC revealed Ms Gray was paid more than the PM, with reports of a fractious relationships at the heart of government.

Rayner rejected reports of rifts in Downing Street as a “caricature”.

Asked if Ms Gray would still be in post by Christmas, she said: “I think so, absolutely. Sue Gray has been doing an incredible job.”

Labour conference opened on Sunday with a speech from Rayner, who drew on her personal background as a single teenage mother to set out what she wanted to do in government.

Rayner told the audience: “It was the foundation of a decent home, secure work and a strong community that nurtured me,” as she reiterated her commitment to new legislation on workers’ rights.

The deputy PM struck a familiar note of caution about the economic picture, as she compared balancing her department’s budget with the tough financial choices she’d had to personally make in the past.

On housing, she promised clamp down on mouldy homes, extending it to cover the private rented sector as well as social housing; and repeated pledges on building more homes and speeding up planning in urban areas.

And she also peppered the speech with attacks on the Tories, saying the party had left Labour to “clean up the mess”.