Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds has defended the Prime Minister over claims that he failed to declare donations of clothing for his wife from party donor Lord Alli.
He told GB News: “This is hardly a case of things being hidden. On the contrary, actually, the Prime Minister was attempting to be transparent. Advice was sought on coming to office as to what was appropriate to donate.
“The advice was followed, but that advice was then doubted. Further interrogation took place, that was, I understand it, earlier this month, and now that additional declaration will be made…
“He did know the rules about 28 days and that's why, when he came to office, he sought advice immediately about what to declare, followed that advice but then doubted it, subsequently interrogated it, again sought out further advice and has now made the declaration.”
In a discussion with Camilla Tominey, he said: “In terms of being the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and being the Prime Minister's spouse, I think we would agree we would want them to look at their very best…
“To your first point, when the Prime Minister was the Leader of the Opposition, he was still holding a senior public political office, and obviously he was aspiring to be the Prime Minister to represent our country on the world stage.
“To your second point, Lord Alli is a self-made millionaire. He's a long-standing donor, it’s a matter of public record, to the Labour Party.
“But he's someone who's been a member of the House of Lords since 1998, has a substantial record of public service in that time, over 25 years in the House of Lords, and was, as I understand it, given a [Downing Street] pass for a short period of a few weeks for the transition, but he is somebody who's been in our Parliament for over a quarter of century.”
Asked how it could be justified when winter fuel payments for pensioners are to be axed, he said: “Your point about winter fuel and the means testing of winter fuel payments, that isn't a decision we wanted to make.
“It isn't a decision we expected to make. It's a decision we've had to make in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, we’ve got a black hole of £21.9 billion…
“We've made a political choice that we have to fill this black hole, and if we don't fill this black hole, then the economy and the stability of the economy would be at risk.”
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