Andrew Pierce reveals ‘frank’ discussion with Keir Starmer over freebies row: ‘Lost me’

Andrew Pierce reveals ‘frank’ discussion with Keir Starmer over freebies row: ‘Lost me’

Andrew Pierce reveals he had a conversation with the prime minister

GB NEWS
Ben Chapman

By Ben Chapman


Published: 23/09/2024

- 13:04

Andrew ran into the Prime Minister at the Labour conference

GB News host Andrew Pierce said he had a “frank” conversation with Sir Keir Starmer about the Labour donations row at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool.

Speaking to Bev Turner, Andrew recalled his night in the hotel lobby where he was left shocked by the prime minister’s presence.


Starmer had arrived to have dinner and was joined by a heavy security presence, Andrew said.

“I did have a little exchange with the prime minister”, he said.

Andrew Pierce and Sir Keir Starmer

Andrew Pierce said he had a frank conversation with the Prime Minister

GB NEWS / PA

“I was in the conference hotel. He surprisingly came down for dinner. You knew he was on his way because of the buzz in the room.

“He was walking past and I felt this arm on my shoulder. ‘Hey Tory boy’, he said, in his usual, dynamic interesting voice.

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“He asked, ‘are you being nice about me or awful about me?’, I said, ‘frankly, prime minister, it’s not difficult to be difficult at the moment because you’re making it rather easy for us.

“He changed the subject to talk about the football which of course, lost me.

“Arsenal were playing yesterday against Manchester City. I asked if he went to see the game. He said ‘I don’t think that would be appropriate at the moment, do you?’

“Probably not when you see the rows he has got into for accepting thousands of pounds of free tickets from Arsenal.”

StarmerLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer PA

The prime minister has defended his decision to accept corporate hospitality seats from the Premier League outfit he supports, arguing he can no longer use his normal seats due to security concerns.

Arsenal have made two seats available to Sir Keir, a season-ticket holder in the Emirates Stadium’s corporate area.

He told the BBC it would cost the taxpayer more to shell out for security costs if he were to opt for his normal seat.

The Labour leader insisted he would “rather be in the stands”, but accepting a corporate ticket was the “sensible” choice.

Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner

Andrew Pierce spoke to Bev Turner on GB News

GB NEWS

It comes amid a wave of scrutiny about gifts received by both the prime minister and his wife Victoria, including clothes gifted to her by a Labour donor.

Sir Keir is a longtime season ticket holder at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and has been spotted attending the club’s home and away games.

He was present at the club’s opening match of the season against Wolves last month.

Since becoming Labour leader in 2020, Starmer has declared thousands of pounds worth of tickets and hospitality for Arsenal matches from both the club itself, other clubs, the Premier League and commercial companies.

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