Lord Waheed Alli, has he bought the government?

I stand by what I said upthread. The giving of gifts to politicians stinks and is immoral. Any support of this practice is supporting an immoral practice.

I’m not defending the ‘freebie’ culture at Westminster but - anyone involved in the corporate/business/sales business must be aware there are budgets for treating/seducing customers.

Instead of all those donations, monetary or itemised being made to individuals why are they not made to the political party. Then individuals could ask the party for funds to eg buy a new suit, go along with their children to a Taylor Swift concert (probably be a bit of competition for these tickets). The PM coujd at least pay a contribution of the cost of his usual football ticket to his Party funds or the football team. The job I had when working for a Council I had specific terms that I couldn't accept any kind of gift. If I did it would be immediate dismissal. This was to ensure no corruption. Why anyone in government is allowed to accept gifts baffles me.

That is my understanding too Allira.

People think governments run the world.

They don't. It's powerful business and wealthy individuals who have the influence and make the decisions that affect us all.

members.parliament.uk/member/3482/contributions

Lord Alli has spoken 42 times not twice in the HoLs and voted 1143 times. Please see above.

maddyfour

Lord Alli may well be a philanthropist, and help his friend who has a terminally ill sister (I know nothing about that) but it sounds as though he bought himself a place in the HofLs by his donations and gifts to Tony Blair, and apparently he has only used it to speak twice! I guess he likes being called Lord. All the political parties reward their friends in this way. It is unethical and unacceptable, whichever party is doing it.

Rather than jumping to the defence of the political party we support, we should all be looking at the practice of freebies and gifts, and contracts awarded or HofLs seats being given, and we should demand that these practices cease.
The whole business stinks and needs to end.

Before saying "it sounds like" for a particular person it's worth reading the wiki biography, and some other discussions upthread about contributions he's made in HoL and in the community, since this thread it to that point.

Lord Alli may well be a philanthropist, and help his friend who has a terminally ill sister (I know nothing about that)
Why is that being used as an excuse for him loading the PM with freebies?
What he does in his life away from politics is up to him.

Lord Alli may well be a philanthropist, and help his friend who has a terminally ill sister (I know nothing about that) but it sounds as though he bought himself a place in the HofLs by his donations and gifts to Tony Blair, and apparently he has only used it to speak twice! I guess he likes being called Lord. All the political parties reward their friends in this way. It is unethical and unacceptable, whichever party is doing it.

Rather than jumping to the defence of the political party we support, we should all be looking at the practice of freebies and gifts, and contracts awarded or HofLs seats being given, and we should demand that these practices cease.
The whole business stinks and needs to end.

From what I've read it does seem so far that Lord Alli is a very wealthy man who has not received any benefits from his donations and he's just a philanthropist who is able to support what he believes in. It seems he's been donating to the LP for many years before they were in power.
Until all parties agree not to accept donations then this kind of thing will never be resolved and that's not likely to happen. I just think the LP have been very foolish to accept gifts for clothes and 'jollies', didn't they realise it was contrary to exactly what they's been criticising the Tories for?

It is people's business when the donor has been creared a member of the House of Lords (for his generous donations?) and has been discovered to be lavishing money of prominent members of the present Government.
Plenty of very wealthy people give gifts to those in need on the strict understanding that they are not to be revealed while they are still alive; Lord Forte (I think) and George Michael for example.

I think anyone who gives money to a government will want a favour in return.

It certainly isn’t my business why someone buys a house rather than rents , it has nothing to do with you either

Anniebach

Her sister is terminally ill, she needed to live on the ground floor, he loaned the money interest free until they sold their home living in.

Why did they need to buy a £1.2M house? Could have simply rented. The stamp duty alone on a £1.2M property as a second home would have been about £98,000. That's a rent of approx £8200 a month.

Well, there were 3 broad areas of criticism of the last government in broad terms of handouts.

One was excessive gifts as such.

The second was the habit of linking gifts to getting/trying to get a place in the H o L

But the other whole area was the incredible extent to which handouts were given for contracts during Covid and similar "Favours"

Dillonsgranma

I think accepting money or freebie holidays or spectacles or suits from any donor is suspect. It stinks frankly. !
There is no need for these donations (bribes )to be paid to any party surely. ?
Very unimpressed so far with the labour government 🤬

There is no need, but this whole row really blew up because KS deemed things wrong under the previous government, but sees them as acceptable under this one.
And of course, with the Internet there is less chance of keeping things private.

icanhandthemback

So the Tories took donations and a lot of us went "that's disgusting." Starmer jumped up and down a lot about it and now we find out that he has received donations. To criticise him is somehow wrong. 🙄

What I think is wrong is that the system is open to abuse regardless of which party is in power and it should be changed. There is no reason for a sitting Prime Minister to change the wallpaper in Downing Street...you can't do that in rented accommodation! We should give the Prime Minister an allowance suitable to his/her position so that he can dress, entertain and do what needs to be done.

The prime minister is permitted £30,000 per year from the public purse for the decoration of his residence. (Independent).

That should do the job alongside "We should give the Prime Minister an allowance suitable to his/her position so that he can dress, entertain and do what needs to be done."

Otherwise I'm finding general agreement in GN about gifts, setting limits, perhaps long overdue after years of "custom and practice".

Whats different is the debate over friends staying in accommodation.

What were the bribes. do tell

I think accepting money or freebie holidays or spectacles or suits from any donor is suspect. It stinks frankly. !
There is no need for these donations (bribes )to be paid to any party surely. ?
Very unimpressed so far with the labour government 🤬

Just because Conservatives were s***doesn't mean this lot aren't as well! This either/or 'my side's better than your side, na na na' rubbish only obscures the truth. Witchhunts are great fun if you hate what you're hunting, but 'boring' if it's your 'side' that's being held accountable.
Please wake up!

He loaned interest free money to a woman who is terminally ill, she will repay the loan when she sells her home

He invited a friend to stay in his New York apartment whilst she was on holiday.

He loaned a property to a friend because the friend son was sitting his GCSE’s and their family home was surrounded by
media and protesters.

Is it unusual to have several friends? I am sorry if you do

OldFrill

My goodness Sago - how low will you stoop to stir negativity. The chap did a very generous thing for his dying best friend, and was reimbursed.

But he seems to have a lot of Labour 'best friends'

Sleaze, sleaze, and more sleaze. greed and power.

Oreo

I don’t believe that Lord Alli has bought the government but it’s brought to our attention that overgenerous personal freebies and luxuries can certainly look that way and could make refusing a donor anything awkward.
I think it’s time that politicians only accepted money to help campaigns and run offices, nothing more.

I agree. Whether it’s wallpaper or designer clothes, expensive tickets to Taylor Swift or freebie holidays, I believe gifts, large or small to politicians should no longer be allowed. It smacks of bribery and corruption, even if that’s not true.
Donations to running a political party and towards election expenses would seem reasonable.
It’s hard to imagine how expensive wallpaper or designer suits add anything to the government of this country, and leads one to conclude that the giver has some kind of expectation of reward, even if they don’t.
It needs to be stopped. It’s unethical.

So the Tories took donations and a lot of us went "that's disgusting." Starmer jumped up and down a lot about it and now we find out that he has received donations. To criticise him is somehow wrong. 🙄

What I think is wrong is that the system is open to abuse regardless of which party is in power and it should be changed. There is no reason for a sitting Prime Minister to change the wallpaper in Downing Street...you can't do that in rented accommodation! We should give the Prime Minister an allowance suitable to his/her position so that he can dress, entertain and do what needs to be done.