Labour donor Lord Alli breached parliamentary rules, watchdog finds

Labour donor Lord Alli breached four parliamentary rules over his registration of interests, a standards watchdog has found.

Sir Keir Starmer’s largest donor was found to have failed to include all his roles at a charity, did not register he had a controlling interest in a media company and did not register he was a director of a British Virgin Islands-based firm in time.

This is unrelated to questions over his donations to politicians such as the prime minister and other ministers.

Lords Commissioner for Standards Martin Jelley said the breaches were “minor”.

Lord Alli, a TV executive who has given more than £700,000 to Labour over the past 20 years, was recommended to write a letter of apology to the chair of the Lords’ conduct committee, Baroness Manningham-Buller.

In his letter, he wrote: “I am writing to you today to offer my apology for my breach of conduct by not registering my interests correctly.

“I will endeavour to keep to the Code of Conduct at all times to avoid such circumstances again.”

The first breach said Lord Alli should have registered himself as an unremunerated director of The Charlie Parsons Foundation, as well as a trustee.

He helped set up the charity in 2011 with Charlie Parsons, who created the Survivor reality TV series, to invest in “new talent, new projects and new business ideas”, mainly in the TV and entertainment industry.

The second breach found Lord Alli removed himself prematurely as a “person with significant control” of Silvergate BP Bidco Limited, the production company that produces the Peter Rabbit television programme.

He also prematurely removed his entry saying he had a “shareholding amounting to a controlling interest” in the company.

The fourth breach was the late registration as an unremunerated director of MAC (BVI) Limited, an offshore British Virgin Islands subsidiary of 450 PLC, an investment firm based in tax haven Jersey Lord Alli had declared he was a chairman for.

Lord Alli previously said the omission was an “unintentional error” and he “had not realised” until he was asked by journalists in September.

The peer came under scrutiny in September over the tens of thousands of pounds he has given to Labour MPs to cover clothes, holidays and work events.

According to data unveiled by Sky News’ Westminster Accounts project, he gave Sir Keir more than £39,000 in gifts and hospitality over the course of the last parliament.

This year alone, the prime minister has received nearly £19,000 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses from Lord Alli as well as £20,000 worth of accommodation.

Sir Keir said this was to allow his son to study for his GCSEs in peace at the former TV executive’s central London flat while the family home was surrounded by media during the general election.

The PM, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and deputy PM Angela Rayner have said they will no longer accept donations to pay for clothes following the backlash.