Keir Starmer suggests he will continue accepting gifts from millionaire Labour donor

Sir Keir Starmer has defended accepting gifts from a millionaire Labour donor who was later given a pass to access No 10 Downing Street.

The Prime Minister suggested he would continue to take gifts from Lord Alli despite a row over some of his donations not being declared in line with parliamentary rules.

Asked on Monday whether he would continue to accept gifts from Lord Alli, Sir Keir said that "all Members of Parliament get gifts" and "the important thing is that they're declared in accordance with the rules".

The Labour peer has given Sir Keir tens of thousands of pounds to spend on suits and spectacles, and over the weekend it emerged that Lady Starmer, the Prime Minister's wife, had also been given £5,000 worth of clothes and personal shopping.

MPs are supposed to declare gifts and donations to the parliamentary authorities within 28 days of receiving them. They have to declare "any interest which someone might reasonably consider to influence their actions or words as an MP", and the declarations are then published on the Register of Members' Financial Interests.

However, the Prime Minister declared the gifts to his wife, thought to have been received both before and after he entered Downing Street, only last week after initially believing that they did not need to be added to the register.

The Conservatives have written to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to call for an investigation into the failure to declare donations.

On Monday, Sir Keir dodged several questions on whether he would continue taking handouts from Lord Alli, pledging only to "comply with the rules".

He said it would be "pushing it a bit far" to deny him the right to accept Arsenal tickets, as he could not sit in his usual seat for security reasons.

Sir Keir accepted more than 20 free tickets to football matches in the last Parliament, according to figures released in July, using complimentary seats to watch Arsenal play Manchester United, Manchester City and Porto.

Sir Keir said on Monday: "All Members of Parliament get gifts. The rules then say that over a certain value you've got to declare the gifts, so everybody can see what it was, how much it was, who it came from, and so that you and others can ask questions about it. That's a good framework. It's the right framework."

Asked whether he thought he had done nothing wrong, and whether he would continue taking those sorts of donations, he said: "The problem is, let's take football as an example. I'm a massive Arsenal fan. I can't go into the stands because of security reasons. Therefore if I don't accept a gift of hospitality I can't go to a game.

"You could say, well, bad luck. That's why gifts have to be registered. But you know, never going to an Arsenal game again because I can't accept hospitality is pushing it a bit far."

Asked again whether he would continue to accept gifts from Lord Alli, he said: "Well, wherever there are gifts from anyone I'm going to comply with the rules... Look, there are gifts to all MPs of different sizes and shapes. The important thing is that they're declared in accordance with the rules."

Asked whether an anti-corruption advisor would be appointed, he went on: "Well, there's a massive difference between declarations and corruption. Declarations are about declaring properly so that you and others can see properly made declarations."