When formally entered the race to become Labour leader, he did so promising to “restore trust” in his party. Three weeks later, the long-term picked up the keys to the latest of his many homes, a two-storey penthouse in London’s Covent Garden that cost him £18.35 million.
The two events were seemingly unconnected, but four years on, the luxury flat and the issue of trust in have become inextricably linked. We now know that, whatever Lord Alli’s intentions when he bought the property, it ended up becoming something of a hang out for Labour MPs, and in particular Sir Keir. Many, though not all, of the times Labour MPs used the marbled rooms of the media entrepreneur’s flat were declared to Parliament, yet curious questions remain unanswered about some of those visits.
The saga began in January 2020, with the world on the brink of the Covid pandemic. On Jan 4, Sir Keir announced that he would be standing for Labour leader, with those fine words about trust. On Jan 24, Lord Alli completed the purchase of the flat, which lies 350 metres as the crow flies from another of his homes, a £2 million property on the other side of Covent Garden’s famous former market.
In the months that followed, Lord Alli donated £100,000 to Sir Keir’s leadership campaign, and on April 4, with the country in the grip of lockdown, Sir Keir was . When Sir Keir first visited Lord Alli’s flat is unclear, but on Dec 13 2021, Sir Keir to record a Christmas message in which he urged the publi.