(Bloomberg) -- When Keir Starmer entered 10 Downing Street as the UK’s new prime minister on July 5, the customary line-up of officials and aides was there to clap him in following the Labour Party’s resounding electoral success. Visible only for a split second before the camera panned away was a rarely seen peer with outsize influence: Waheed Alli.
Until recent weeks, most of the British public had never heard of Alli, a 59 year-old media executive ennobled in the 1990s who keeps a low profile despite holding a powerful yet undefined role within Labour.
Since the election, however, a steady drip of media stories has brought him to prominence. First, the Sunday Times revealed he had been given a Downing Street pass, prompting questions about the access to power granted to a political donor. Then, Bloomberg revealed Alli had advised on appointments to plum public jobs while chairing Labour’s general election fund-raising. Over the weekend, it emerged he’d paid for designer clothes for the premier’s wife, Victoria.
The scrutiny raises uncomfortable questions of Starmer about the degree of access and influence exercised by a major donor and the potential for conflicts of interest, especially in recommending public appointments. Moreover, the leader’s acceptance of gifts has opened him up to charges of hypocrisy — which he denies — after he spent much of his time in opposition criticizing the former Conservative administration’s record on ethics and propriety.
Neither Alli nor the premier’s office responded to a request for comment for this article. Starmer himself told reporters on Monday that “wherever there are gifts from anyone, I’m going to comply with rules.”
This account is based on conversations about Alli’s influence with more than a dozen Labour aides and lawmakers who all requested anonymity discussing the party’s inner workings. What emerges is a picture of the peer as Labour’s connector and convener; a link to wealthy business people as well as being a top donor himself.
While Alli’s friends defend him as a supporter and lord who gives his time and money generously to Labour, others question the appropriateness of the many hats he wears for the governing party.
The peer has donated more than £575,000 ($756,000) to the party and its politicians since 2020, according to Bloomberg calculations using data from the Electoral Commission and Parliament’s Register of Members’ Financial Interests. But his support extends beyond that, according to the people Bloomberg spoke with. He often hosts fund-raisers for MPs and candidates, as well as intimate dinners with potential donors at his Mayfair home, they said.
The peer is frequently there to provide cash when a Labour politician needs a suit, loan, or even a birthday party, and Starmer has been a major beneficiary. Alli paid for the premier’s expensive suits and glasses, as well as contributing £100,000 to his successful leadership campaign in 2020. The prime minister is now in hot water over initially failing to declare that Alli provided £5,000 worth of clothes - and the use of a personal shopper - to his wife Victoria, in breach of parliamentary rules.
Starmer said his team sought advice from “the relevant authorities” after the election and then made the required declaration.
Alli also donated £14,000 to Bridget Phillipson, now the education secretary, to enable her “to host a number of events,” shortly before she hosted a 40th birthday party attended by Starmer and other senior party figures. He organized Angela Rayner’s launch for her successful campaign to become deputy leader, made donations to support her in that role, and gave her the use of a flat in New York while she holidayed there over New Year.
There have also been donations to David Lammy, Wes Streeting and Ed Miliband — now foreign secretary, health secretary and energy secretary respectively. Liam Conlon, a new MP who is the son of Sue Gray, Starmer’s chief of staff, has benefited from the peer’s largess, while Alli also hosted a dinner following Gray’s appointment, seating her beside former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
It was Blair who elevated Alli to the House of Lords in 1998, making him at the time the youngest ever peer and the chamber’s first gay Muslim. He’d made his name helping create television programs such as The Word and Big Breakfast that earned him a reputation of having his finger on the pulse of Britain’s youth. Planet 24, the television production company he helped build with Charlie Parsons and ex-Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof, is known internationally for producing the Survivor reality show franchise.
Alli quickly became an influential Labour figure, hosting ministers at houses in Kent and London. He celebrated his peerage with a lavish summer bash featuring dodgems and peacocks roaming the grounds.
A quarter century later in 2022, he held a summer party at the same mansion, attended by members of Starmer’s shadow cabinet including Miliband. Guests were treated to a hot air balloon display and took a dip in the pool.
Alli’s role now has prompted parallels with Michael Levy, another peer nicknamed “Lord Cashpoint” during the Blair era. While Blair sought Alli’s advice on “what young people were thinking,” Starmer decided to make formal use of the peer’s wide and wealthy network, appointing him chair of Labour’s general election fund-raising in 2022.
Alli quickly became a vital link between the leadership and business figures keen to support Labour. When the Conservatives raised the maximum election spending threshold to £34 million in 2023, the move was expected to benefit the then governing party. But under Alli’s stewardship, Labour’s fund-raising during this year’s campaign far outstripped Tory donations.
The peer took on a wider unofficial role in the campaign. He was a constant presence in Labour HQ described by observers as almost as visible as Pat McFadden or Jonathan Ashworth, two elected shadow cabinet ministers who were central to the campaign. Alli was particularly close to Gray, attending meetings to prepare Labour for government. Gray declined to comment.
In early 2024, Alli suggested establishing a project dubbed Operation Integrity to identify candidates for public appointments that were due to become vacant. His advice also covered cabinet appointments, according to one person familiar with the matter.
Labour staff raised concerns that chimed with those of some senior party figures. But no one wanted to act because of Alli’s power, one person said. The peer was obviously well-placed to know retired CEOs and chairs of boards who would be suitable for public appointments, they said. Nevertheless, they expressed concern about the potential ethical conflict, and what Alli might be saying to donors about imminent public appointments.
A Downing Street official said appointments are made in line with requirements and that Alli plays no part in this or in Cabinet formation. The official said they weren’t aware of any complaints against Alli and didn’t recognize the name Operation Integrity.
Many within Labour view the sudden scrutiny as unfair, describing Alli as a pleasant man who doesn’t expect reward for his years of support. One MP who has known Alli for decades described him as generous and loyal. Another said he was the jolliest person in parliament. A senior Labour figure said Alli had excelled in an important and difficult role, defying expectations to raise enough money to meet the campaign spending limit, while avoiding scandals around the provenance of the cash.
After the election, Alli continued working with Gray on preparations for government, people familiar with the matter said. He had a No. 10 pass for “transition work,” Starmer’s office has conceded, adding that the work is now over and the pass returned. But another person said they’d seen him in Downing Street just last week. For Starmer, Alli’s presence has clearly been a boon — but the unelected peer’s continued presence in the heart of power is likely to keep raising questions about the influence he wields on the running of the country.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
