Keir Starmer UN Speech – LIVE: PM defends claims he used donor’s £18m penthouse in Covid work from home plea

Labour’s Tan Dhesi has appeared on the morning media round to defend Sir Keir Starmer after claims emerged he took £20,000 in donations from Lord Alli.

Sir Keir reportedly used a flat from the donor during his son’s GCSE’s and to record a video urging people to work from home during Covid.

Asked whether this was acceptable, the defence select committee chair told Sky News Sir Keir was “fearing for the safety of his family” and worried about his son failing his exams.

But when put to him that the prime minister also stayed during the pandemic, he said: “For me the key thing around the accommodation it is a fact that outside the prime minister’s home there were people camped out.”

Mr Dhesi added: “We do need to bear in mind that the hoome of leader of the opposition at the time was constantly being deluged by protesters, journalists, investigators.

“As the prime minister said, nothing illegal happened and all the rules were followed. I will take him by his word. He is a man of integrity.”

Rank-and-file members at conference – Labour’s supreme policy-making body – have voted against the government’s decision to means-test pensioners’ winter fuel payments. John Rentoul explains why the cuts will go ahead regardless:

Sir Keir Starmer has been busy meeting world leaders at the annual United Nations General Assembly ahead of his keynote speech today.

He held bilateral talks last night with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas as Israel’s war on Gaza continues.

Both leaders have condemned the attacks of 7 October and agreed on the need of an immediate ceasefire across the Middle East.

In a read out, No 10 said: “He also highlighted the civilian death toll in Gaza since then, with 41,000 killed and 100,000 injured, plus 70 per cent of infrastructure devastated.

“The prime minister agreed that the loss of civilian life had been intolerable.”

Downing Street added: “The president and prime minister also condemned the increase in settler violence and settlement activity there has been on the West Bank.”

A £10 billion US investment in a new artificial intelligence data centre will create 4,000 jobs in the UK, the Government has announced.

The deal with private equity giant Blackstone will create Europe’s biggest AI data centre in Blyth, Northumberland.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is in New York attempting to woo US bosses, said the investment showed the UK is “open for business”.

You can read the full story below:

Defence secretary John Healey will meet his Australian and US counterparts in London to discuss a deal to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

He will host Asutralian deputy prime minister Richard Marles and US defence secretary Lloyd James Austin III at an AUKUS security partnership meeting today.

The leaders will discuss a treaty to create a new SSN-AUKUS submarine project worth billions of pounds.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Healey said: “As AUKUS partners, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in an increasingly unstable world.

“This is a partnership that will boost jobs, growth and prosperity across our three nations, as well as strengthening our collective security.

“I’m delighted that we will soon be commencing negotiations on a bilateral AUKUS treaty with Australia, which will help create a more secure and stable Indo-Pacific for decades to come.”

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of using Labour donor Lord Alli’s £18million penthouse to shot a video urging Britain to work from home during Covid.

The clip from December 2021, showed the then leader of the opposition attacking Boris Johnson’s government for its pandemic response.

According to political news website Guido Fawkes, the penthouse belongs to former fashion boss Lord Alli. But Number 10 has insisted no rules were broken during Sir Keir’s stay.

The flat located in Covent Garden, central London, was also used by Sir Keir’s family during the general election.

Sir Keir Starmer accepted £20,000 worth of accommodation to help his 16-year-old son study for his GCSEs, it has emerged.

The prime minister was asked by the BBC about a £20,437 donation from Labour peer Waheed Alli between May and July, confirming that the sum was for somewhere his son could study “peacefully”.

He told the broadcaster: “At the beginning of the election, which we didn’t know when it was going to be called, my boy was in the middle of his GCSEs.

“I made him a promise that he’ll be able to get to his school, do his exams without being disturbed.”

Sir Keir said there were “lots of journalists outside our house where we lived”.

You can read the full story below:

Sir Keir Starmer will address world leaders at the UN General Assembly and woo US business chiefs as his visit to New York continues.

The gathering of world leaders at the UN comes as the Middle East teeters on the brink of all-out war and conflict rages in Ukraine.

The prime minister will use his speech to say the UK is returning to “responsible global leadership” because it is in British interests to address problems around the world.

“War, poverty and climate change all rebound on us at home. They make us less secure, they harm our economy, and they create migration flows on an unprecedented scale,” he will say.

His speech today follows an intervention at the UN Security Council on Wednesday where he tore into Russia over its actions in Ukraine, saying Vladimir Putin was treating his own citizens as “bits of meat to fling into the grinder” in the conflict.

He said Russia, which like the UK is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, was behind the “greatest violation of the (UN) charter in a generation”.

“I wonder how Russia can show its face in this building,” he added.