The problem Labour has with gifts from chums & free tickets to sporting events (or concerts) is not only the stink of corruption (albeit currently at a lower level that that achieved by the Tories), but also that it confirms the country's political class are not like us....
When you're saying your difficult decisions will impact our economic well-being, while you're being lavished with gifts & freebies, it does not suggest you understand what you're putting us through.
The expenses scandal in the late 2000s should have put paid to the expense claim culture in parliament. It is perhaps significant that #lordalli received his peerage well before this and thus may not have appreciated how far the climate had changed since then.
Indeed, but the recipients should also have known, surely?
None of the three - #keirstarmer , #angelarayner and #rachelreeves - were in the House of Commons at the time of the original expenses scandal. It may thus not have registered with them as much as it would have done with those who saw colleagues and even friends forced out as a result.
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Donald Roy