Ed Balls and Kate Garraway hosted today’s Good Morning Britain on ITV (Image: ITV)
Good Morning Britain’s took fire at Prime Minister Keir Starmer this morning as she asked if the Labour government was in “a mess”. The ITV star quizzed Sarah Jones on the Labour party’s stance on receiving gifts from individuals and businesses after it came to light that Sir Starmer had , including clothing and concert tickets.
Kate noted that is now paying back just some of the donations that he had received, returning a mere £6,000 of his gifts. Kate asked: “Isn’t that the point? That it’s still there, still not cleared up and is preventing everybody from doing their jobs?”
Sarah Jones, minister for business and energy, explained to Kate that Sir Starmer is returning some of his gifts because his aim is for the nation to trust him. But Kate seemed like it was having the opposite effect on her.
She hit out at the , as she said to the MP: “The problem is, as you’re saying this I’m wondering why is there such a muck up so early on? Why £6,000 and not all of it?
“What’s the clarity on the rules? What’s the clarity on why all of this has happened? Is it all just a mess or is there some real problem underneath?”
A Labour MP appeared on ITV’s GMB (Image: ITV)
Sarah responded by saying that most politicians will “turn down far more than they ever get offered”. But she assured the ITV hosts that the principles around hospitality are currently being reviewed and the review will be published shortly.
The MP went on to awkwardly add that she had received three gifts in seven years.
When challenged by Ed Balls about whether she would be paying back the money for those gifts, she replied: “I am investigating whether that is possible because the tickets weren’t for sale, I was a guest at the .”
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Kate and Ed grilled the MP (Image: ITV)
When clearing up the confusion about the principles of accepting gifts, Sarah said: “I think the question the public is asking is for what purpose do we need to go to these events and are they helping us do a good job?”
Ed asked: “Did going to the Proms help you do your job?” She replied: “Well there’s an argument there isn’t there. If you look at it through a lens of I’ve been to three things in seven years, then that doesn’t seem like much.
“If you look at it through the lens of did it help you do your job, maybe thats where the principles lie.”