When Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was challenged by Sky news Sam Coates no one expected packed within a 45-second clip there could be so many mistruths and lies.
It should have been a no brainer for the Labour Party, an open goal, with Sir Geoffrey Cox, and his second job, sunning it up on the British Virgin Islands making just under a cool million.
Instead, Sir Keir Starmer flapped at the mention of Mishcon de Reya and the role he was offered advising the Mishcon Academy in 2017.
Speaking to Sky News, Starmer said: “Many, many years ago, back I think in 2015, the Labour Party said that paid consultancies ought to go.
“And we put that to vote in 2015. The Government voted it down.
“The independent committee on standard public life, they proposed pretty much the same thing in 2018.
That didn’t stop Starmer from earning over 200k from the same firm, however, you can give the guy a break on that one, he had only just become an MP but however, he continued to take more work over the next six years earning himself a sweet sideline of over a £115k.
It’s not against the rules (unless they are ministers and as long as they declare it in an official register) and many MPs such as Rosena Allin-Khan dedicate time to the NHS as doctors as second jobs, while others write articles for newspapers.
However, for many of us, we fail to see how being a representative of the people can leave room for any other work and at a starting MP’s salary of £82,000, who needs it?
At this stage we are only discussing the difference in what Starmer and Cox earnt, the ethics remain the same, carrying out second jobs of this nature are in most peoples eyes just wrong.
His first month as an MP before drawing a wage looked like this:
Starmer, Keir (Holborn and St Pancras)
Starmer, Keir (Holborn and St Pancras)
1. Employment and earnings
13 May 2015, received £100,000 for legal consultancy from Mishcon de Reya, 12 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4QD. Hours: none since the Election. (Registered 05 June 2015)
15 May 2015, received £19,800 for legal advice and representation from Square One Law LLP, St Ann’s Wharf, 112 Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3DX. Hours: none since the Election. (Registered 05 June 2015)
15-20 May 2015, received £46,260 for independent review and report from Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland, Belfast Chambers, 93 Chichester St, Belfast BT1 3JR. Hours: none since the Election. (Registered 05 June 2015)
22 May 2015, received £3,750 (excluding VAT) for independent review and report from Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland, Belfast Chambers, 93 Chichester St, Belfast BT1 3JR. Hours: 12.5 hrs. (Registered 29 July 2015)
Payments for articles from Guardian News and Media, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU:
25 June 2015, received £90. Hours: 2 hrs. (Registered 07 September 2015)
31 July 2015, received £300. Hours: 3 hrs. (Registered 07 September 2015)
10 August 2015, received £140. Hours: 2 hrs. (Registered 07 September 2015)
12 November 2015, received £120. Hours: 2 hrs. (Registered 23 December 2015)
14 January 2016, received £559.22. Hours: 4 hrs. (Registered 10 February 2016)
22 March 2016, received £400. Hours: 8 hrs. (Registered 20 April 2016)
16 December 2015, received £9,480 for legal advice from Government of Gibraltar, Joshua Hassan House, Secretary’s Lane, Gibraltar GX11 1AA. Hours: approx. 20 hrs. (Registered 06 January 2016)
18 December 2015, received £7,060.62 for legal advice from Mishcon de Reya, Africa House, 70 Kingsway, London WC2B 6AH. Hours; approx. 12 hrs. (Registered 06 January 2016)
19 June 2015, received £458.18 for legal advice and representation from Birnberg Pierce Solicitors, 14 Inverness St, London N1 7HJ for work carried out before my election. (Registered 06 January 2016)
14 July 2015, received £6,922.37 for legal advice and representation from Tyndallwoods Solicitors, 29 Woodbourne Road, Birmingham B17 8BY, for work carried out before my election. (Registered 06 January 2016)
The Register of Members’ Financial Interests As of 16th May 2016.
Labour leader Keir Starmer, the former shadow Brexit secretary was offered a job by Mishcon de Reya in 2017, the law firm behind the court case that forced Theresa May to give parliament a vote on Article 50.
“So it seems to me that’s an obvious change that we ought to make and we should make that straight away.”
Sam Coates asked: “Hang on. In 2017 you were in talks to take a consultancy job yourself with Mishcon de Reya.
“Was the decision wrong? Do you regret that now?”
Starmer said: “I have, in fact, given up by practicing certificate as a lawyer.”
Mr Coates pressed on: “But at the point at which you said it was wrong, you were in talks to take a job yourself.”
Starmer said: “No I wasn’t. There was discussion, nothing happened.
The reporter asked: “Was the discussion wrong? You started it.
“Why did you do that? Why do you think that was wrong now? What’s changed?”
The Labour leader said in response: “I have given up my practicing certificate.
“I can no longer act as a lawyer. I have two jobs.
“One is to represent the members have papers and papers by constituency, and the other is to bring down this war for governments and that’s the job that I’m focusing on.
The reporter asked: “But to be clear that what you were in discussions work for in 2017.
“You don’t think you should be able to do that now going forward, that kind of behaviour would be wrong.”
“I have given written pieces of legal advice since I’ve been an MP.
“But I have now given up my legal certificate, I gave it up the best part of two years ago.
“That means I’m no longer qualified to give legal advice.
“My job is to represent those people in Holborn and St Pancras and to bring down this awful Government.”
Who said no to the second Job?
Starmer claimed he decided himself not to take the lucrative second job at law firm Mishcon de Reya in the summer of 2017, a spokesperson for the Labour leader has insisted.
Of course, that should have been an end to it! But for Starmer digging himself a deep hole, sending every blogger and journo to dig a little deeper into Sir Keir Starmer’s register of interests and to add a JCB, Jeremy Corbyn’s biographer and former speechwriter, Alex Nunns, has claimed Corbyn stopped Starmer from taking a second job doing “high-paid consultancy work” for law firm Mishcon de Reya in 2017.
Along with Alex Nunns, others have claimed Starmer was instructed not to take on the job by Labour’s then political director, Katy Clark, because Corbyn, then leader, believed it to be incompatible with his role as shadow Brexit secretary. “Katy Clark passed on the requirement to Keir: ‘it was not a request’, said one Corybn-era source.
Two sources also said Corbyn raised at a shadow cabinet meeting his general view that senior frontbenchers should not take on second jobs, adding that the then leader did so without naming Starmer specifically.
However, a spokesperson for Starmer flatly denied that account of events on Thursday, calling it “completely untrue”. “Keir had already said no to the offer before the leader’s office were even aware of it,” the spokesperson added, referring to Corbyn’s immediate team.
This was confirmed when Jeremy Corbyn was interviewed by LBC.
Corbyn: “Nobody who was in a front bench position…would be allowed to take a second job…I made that very clear to everybody including him [Starmer].”Frei: “He’s saying there was no such request made.”Corbyn: “There was an absolutely clear request and decision made, and indeed it was confirmed in writing to every member of the shadow cabinet.”
Then there is the little misunderstanding about not being able to practice. Starmer claims
“I have given written pieces of legal advice since I’ve been an MP.
“But I have now given up my legal certificate, I gave it up the best part of two years ago.
“That means I’m no longer qualified to give legal advice.
However, again it seems his Register of Members’ Financial Interests doesn’t agree with him.
He has lodged himself payments for legal advice dating up to 2021.
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has registered more than £115,0000 in earnings through work outside Parliament during his six years as an MP, financial documents reveal.
Official documents show he has been paid thousands of pounds for advisory work on top of his annual £82,000 MP’s salary.
According to the MPs register of interests from his election on 7 May 2015 to 1 November 2021 — the latest documents available — Sir Keir has taken home almost £114,000 from offering advice to law firms.
The Labour leader has also been paid more than £1,000 for speaker events and Guardian articles since becoming an MP, as well as more than £500 in book royalties.
Since December last year, Starmer’s declared £25,934.18 in miscellaneous legal fees, with one for 70 hours billed at £17,598.60. Starmer has not declared who the end client was that paid him, the lack of transparency again makes it is impossible for voters to see if he had a conflict of interest.
Starmer, Keir (Holborn and St Pancras)
Starmer, Keir (Holborn and St Pancras)
1. Employment and earnings
Payments for legal advice given before 2020:
7 December 2020, received £2,399.58. Hours: approx. 10 hrs. (Registered 23 December 2020)
16 December 2020, received £5,936. Hours: approx. 25 hrs. (Registered 23 December 2020)
24 August 2021, received £17,598.60. Hours: approx. 70 hrs. (Registered 31 August 2021)
The Register of Members’ Financial Interests As of 1 November 2021
A Labour source said: “The money is paid when it’s registered, not necessarily when the work was done. That’s fairly standard for legal work — payments can take a while.”
We all remember Starmer’s donations and the controversy surrounding them, we won’t hold our breath for the half-truths that follow.
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