Taylor Swift, Arsenal and Winter Fuel.

During his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the new prime minister of Britain Keir Starmer had a slip of tongue. In a moment of 'Spoonerism' (wikipedia), "While addressing the Gaza-Israel conflict, Starmer called for the return of 'the sausages' instead of 'the hostages'." ET. At the House of Commons, "The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has announced that, from winter 2024/25, households in England and Wales will no longer be entitled to the Winter Fuel Payment unless they receive Pension Credit or certain other means tested benefits." "10.8 million pensioners in 7.6 million households" received the payment in 2023/24. "More than 700,000 pounds worth of free gifts and hospitality has been received by MPs in the past year for everything from Taylor Swift tickets to helicopter rides, new analysis reveals." "According to his parliamentary register of interests, the Labour leader received more than 65,000 pounds in gifts in the last year, including new clothes and accommodation funded by millionaire Labour peer Wahid Alli." The Guardian. Starmer's chief of staff Sue Gray, whose investigation into 'partygate' brought down the Conservative government of Boris Johnson, is receiving a salary of 170,000 pounds, 3,000 pounds more than Starmer himself. His wife has received dresses as gifts from Alli, and Starmer has received "thousands of pounds' worth of tickets for Premier League games involving Starmer's beloved Arsenal." ET. Starmer's net worth is apparently 7.7 million pounds, but he owns seven acres of land in Surrey worth 10 million pounds and is the joint owner with wife Victoria of their home in North London worth 1 million. The Herald. During their pre-election debate, Starmer accused Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of being too rich to understand the problems of ordinary citizens. CNBC. In June 2024, one month before the general election, "According to the Office for National Statistics, the average real household disposable income per person in the UK has decreased by 1% since 2019. But the couple's (Sunak) earnings have increased by 88% in real terms since the last election. Labour and Liberal Democrats, who believe that Sunak is disconnected from the challenges faced by the people amid the greatest cost-of-living crisis in a generation, have taken issue with this discrepancy." ET. In other words, Labour successfully converted the legitimate wealth of the Sunaks into a liability and this subterfuge earned them a landslide victory in the general election on 4 July 2024 with 411 seats out of a total of 650 seats in the House of Commons, an increase of 211 seats over the last election. wikipedia. Starmer warned the British people it will be "tough in the short term" but that there will be "light at the end of this tunnel". ET. He did not say how long and dark the tunnel will be. Meanwhile, we hope he enjoyed Arsenal's "dark arts" at Manchester City, which ended in a 2-2 draw (BBC), from a private box paid for by party donors. Starmer is a lawyer, a barrister at the Middle Temple (wikipedia). And so, he says he has done nothing wrong. ABC. Of course not. He knows the loopholes.