She’s been described as a ‘reluctant’ political spouse because of her rare public appearances, but Victoria Starmer is, it seems, anything but reluctant when it comes to accepting freebies.
Her husband, Sir Keir Starmer, has disclosed that her attendance at a horse racing event last month was thanks to a gift from Ascot Racecourse.
This week, the Prime Minister updated his entry in the parliamentary Register of Members’ Financial Interests to record that he accepted £650 worth of tickets from the Berkshire racecourse.
The entry states: ‘Name of donor: Ascot Authority (Holdings) Limited. Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Tickets and hospitality for three family members (value approximate), value £650.’
Sir Keir did not join his wife at the King George Racing Weekend event. It is thought that he was preparing for his talks with Donald Trump, whom he was due to meet after the US President’s trip to Scotland.
Lady Starmer, 52, an NHS occupational health worker, was pictured enjoying the warm weather in a bright orange sundress as she attended The King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the racecourse.
Sir Keir’s acceptance of the freebie is surprising as last October he paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he had received since becoming Prime Minister, following a backlash over donations.
That included nearly £2,000 for four tickets to Doncaster Racecourse, as well as six Taylor Swift tickets and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favoured by Lady Starmer.
It came after Sir Keir and other cabinet ministers faced weeks of criticism for accepting freebies from wealthy donors.
The Prime Minister said it was ‘right’ for him to repay the cost of some gifts.
Asked about the donations, he said his Government would bring forward new principles for donations ‘as until now politicians have used their best individual judgement to decide’.
He said: ‘I took the decision that until those principles were in place it was right to repay these particular payments.’
Sir Keir has committed to tightening the rules around ministerial hospitality and gifts to improve transparency.
Earlier, a Downing Street spokesman confirmed that the ministerial code would be updated and will include ‘a new set of principles on gifts and hospitality’ commissioned by Sir Keir.
MPs are allowed to accept gifts from donors but have to declare these on the register of MPs’ interests.
- It’s the spiritual home of cricket and now Lord’s is for sale – well, at least small pieces of it. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is offering its members the chance to buy chunks of turf from the north London pitch for £50 each. ‘At the end of the 2025 season, we will be resurfacing the famous outfield on the Main Ground at Lord’s for the first time in 23 years,’ explains an MCC email. ‘To raise funds for the MCC Foundation, and to aid future development of the cricket field, we are offering all members the chance to own a piece of Lord’s turf.’ One louche member tells me: ‘I normally buy my grass in Camden Town.’
Anneka (and jumpsuit) is back in black
Anneka Rice once revealed she had a ‘shrine’ to the jumpsuits she used to wear on 1980s hit TV show Treasure Hunt and even hired them out for hen parties.
Clearly, the presenter has saved a few of them for her own nights out. Rice, 64, slipped into a black jumpsuit for the opening night performance of Secret Cinema’s Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical at Evolution in London this week.
The Welsh-born presenter returned to our screens last year for the revival of 1990s reality series Challenge Anneka, but it was cancelled after just three episodes due to low ratings.
Dame Mary Archer is not just ‘fragrant’ – as a judge called her in her husband Jeffrey’s 1987 libel trial – but extremely fit as well.
I hear the 80-year-old is to join five other dames in running a charity relay race next month.
‘The Great Dames are dusting off their trainers… and generally limbering up to run in Cambridge’s famous Chariots Of Fire race,’ she says, referring to their team name. Each woman will run a 1.7-mile loop before passing over the baton.
‘The beneficiary is Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity,’ she says. ‘The funds raised will go directly towards establishing a new Roald Dahl Nurse.’
Francesca saddles up in style
ITV’s perkiest presenter, horse racing pundit Francesca Cumani, is determined to prove she’d be a stylish dresser whichever century she happened to be born in.
The mother of two attended the Goodwood Regency Ball – where guests were transported back to the 19th century – wearing a floor-length red dress from vintage fashion for hire store Constantine Rex.
‘In full costume at the Goodwood Ball with this handsome pair,’ Cumani, 42, wrote of fashion stylist Sarah Byrne, pictured left, and racehorse trainer Stephanie Easterby, pictured right, next to this photograph taken at Goodwood House, the Duke of Richmond’s ancestral seat in West Sussex.
Middleton’s answer to ruff days at work
Some might say he’s barking, but James Middleton has called for companies to let employees bring their dogs to work.
The Princess of Wales’s brother claims it would boost productivity. ‘Dogs in the workplace should be a generic “yes” unless there is a very good reason to say “no”,’ says James, 38, who runs dog food firm James & Ella, named after him and his late first dog.
‘I started the business during the pandemic and the whole team works remotely.
‘When we all get together, there are dogs everywhere and I really believe they increase productivity. Ideas come from those 15-minute breaks, taking them out to the garden.’
