Any political party that wants to attain the respect of its electorate needs to operate in a way that is commensurate with that objective.
So accepting millions of pounds in free gifts, VIP event tickets and hospitality perks is hardly a sensible way to go about your first few months in office.
But that’s exactly what the Labour Party have done since sweeping into Downing Street; highlighting the lack of interest that they – and politicians in general – seem to have in governing with sensibility, particularly at a time when they have made living conditions all the tougher for many in their voting public by removing the winter fuel allowance.
And new research has found that MPs have accepted a whopping £1 million in gifts and donations from gambling firms; suggesting that politicians are being ‘sweetened’ by those in the sector in a bid for more agreeable regulatory conditions.
Taking the Free
From donated tickets to Taylor Swift concerts and Royal Ascot, to free designer clothes and Ibiza holidays, UK politicians have never had it so good.
It would be impossible to name and shame all of the MPs here that have accepted such freebies – there’s simply too many of them, but needless to say the appetite for such perks extends all the way up the chain to the Prime Minister and his second in command.
Keir Starmer has paid back £6,000 to cover the cost of the free stuff and hospitality perks he wilfully accepted, while his deputy – Angela Rayner – has been forced to admit that the jolly old time she had in Ibiza this summer was paid for by a nightclub promoter and DJ.
Politicians have long accepted goodies from business interests – it’s one of the perks of the job, but there is a concern that such ‘lobbying’ can impact the regulatory conditions that MPs create via legislator changes, tax breaks and the like.
The government will now attempt to tighten the rules on ministerial hospitality – after the horse has bolted, you might be thinking, but they will no doubt leave enough wriggle room for them to bag a snazzy new designer outfit or tickets to watch a sporting event or concert that they’re not even that interested in attending anyway.
A Million Questions
As the revelations about the government’s amenability to gifts went deeper, the sheer extent of MPs’ relationship with the gambling sector was also exposed.
According to the data (politicians have to lawfully declare any gifts and freebies they accept), the amount that the government has welcomed from the gambling sector has now surpassed £1 million.
Of that, around £1 million has been donated by casino owners and operators, with tens of thousands also gifted by bookmakers and sports betting firms.
Starmer received donations amounting to £25,000 from a businessman, who up until recently was the chairman of one of Britain’s leading betting firms.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the organisation created to promote the cause of its member brands, donated three tickets to a musical to the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. She also received around £20,000 in private donations from Neil Goulden, the former chairman of Gamesys.
The BGC were also in charitable mood with Transport Secretary Louise Haigh. She accepted a whopping £1,421 in free gifts, including tickets to the League One play-off final between Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley – paid for by the BGC.
Wes Streeting, now the Health Secretary, was a prolific acceptor of gifts and donations, and £5,000 was paid to him by Jon Mendelsohn, a Labour peer who has previously held an interest in 888 Holdings.
Streeting also attended a slap-up meal paid for by Allwyn, the new operator of the National Lottery. They paid £700 for the privilege of the minister’s time and ear.
The Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, was the lucky recipient of a matchday ticket and hospitality experience for the sold out England vs Denmark game at the rescheduled EURO 2020; that same package would have cost nearly £3,500 at face value.
But top of the pops is the mercurial Derek Webb, a man whose lifetime has involved inventing three-card poker to, latterly, campaigning against FOBTs and online gambling harm.
He has been a serial donator to the Labour Party in recent years, but seemed to up the ante when it became acutely obvious that Labour were going to oust the Conservatives at the polls in the summer General Election.
Webb donated a reported £750,000 to Labour’s election campaign in 2024; the most sizable gift from an individual this year.