As Labour gathered for its conference last month, the freebies scandal was in full flow and there were plenty of awkward questions being asked of ministers. Starmer said he'd done nothing wrong and refused to apologise when questioned by Nick Ferrari, while Rachel Reeves flapped and failed in a tense exchange with Susanna Reid. However, it was the eminently more polished Wes Streeting who delivered the most elaborate defence of what amounts to corruption.
When asked by a BBC reporter about the scandal, Streeting's absurd response heaped praise on donors and compared their 'noble' actions to giving towards a charity. OK Wes, but since when do charities perform favours in return for money? The reporter then challenged him to declare that receipt of Taylor Swift concert tickets was a 'noble cause'. Streeting's reply was so cocky and tone deaf it fully justified the contempt with which politicians are held by ordinary folk. He joked that 'Keir would shake it off', referencing one of Taylor Swift's hits, before launching into an attack on the BBC as if to say that an institutionally left-wing broadcaster should be laying off a Labour government.
Watch below.
Later on, Streeting was interviewed at more length and repeated his argument that the alternative to donations was for taxpayers to fund political parties. Now donating to political parties is one thing, but donating to individuals is another entirely. In any case, MPs are afforded huge salaries and benefits that are subsidised by the taxpayer - we already fund politics Wes! If you're a government minister earning upwards of £100,000, you can afford to buy your own clothes, concert tickets, holiday accommodation and so on. The fact that Streeting and some of his colleagues can't appreciate public anger adds insult to injury.
He was also pressed on some of the large sums he'd registered as private donations himself, including one for £10,000. All the bravado and levity visibly drained from his face as the reporter reeled off a list of donations, none of which were registered alongside any description as to what they were for. There was no mention of charity this time, but there was no humility either.
Watch below.
