How Lord Alli Became Labour’s Money Man

Among Lord Alli’s strangest donations are the £2,485 Starmer received for several pairs of glasses in April this year; £1,250 for Rayner’s use of a flat in New York during a personal holiday last New Year; and the £4,000 Phillipson accepted to pay for a series of work events, including a party to celebrate his birthday. Starmer also claimed £20,000 of accommodation from Lord Alli during the recent general election.

The scandal has illustrated the extent of Lord Alli’s influence at the very heart of the Labor party machine for many years, and now at the heart of government. He was first persuaded to join the Labor Party by his then neighbor Emily Thornberry in the early 1990s, although he had been politically active since the 1980s.

As a young businessman working in the television and entertainment industry, he befriended Tony Blair and became the youngest member of the House of Lords when he was ennobled aged just 33. He is said to have given £500,000 to the party since 2020.

He has backed several Labor horses over the years, giving money to eight leadership candidates for the party’s most centrist faction, including David Miliband in 2010, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall in 2015, Owen Smith and Angela Eagle in 2016, Jess Phillips in 2016. 2019 and both Starmer and Thornberry in 2020.

In 2022, Lord Alli was tasked with being the main fundraiser for the party ahead of the looming general election. He hosted potential donors at lavish dinners at his various homes (as well as Covent Garden, he has addresses in Kent, New York and Guyana) and is said to have an extraordinary Rolodex of business and political contacts.

It is extremely rare to find anyone with even a loose connection to the Labor Party who has not met Lord Alli at some point. Curiously, however, few admit to knowing him well. “He’s quite low-key and quiet,” says a Labor source. “He is not a showman or particularly gregarious or given to making speeches and is much more comfortable in the background. I suspect he will have found the attention he has received over the last few weeks very unpleasant.”

In a 2011 interview with Financial Timeswhich took place shortly after riots in several cities across the country, Lord Alli expressed some sympathy for the looters who probably felt betrayed by the political class in the wake of the expenses scandal. “When you look up and see everybody on the take, everybody, and you can get a free pair of trainers, tell me what’s the difference between a free pair of trainers and a bank bonus, or a TV on a second home That’s not in your constituency?”

As Opposition Leader, Starmer filmed promotional videos from another of Alli’s homes in Islington. The peer is said to have developed a close working relationship with Sue Gray when she was Starmer’s chief of staff and donated £10,000 to the constituency party. Gray’s son Liam Conlon ahead of his election as Labor MP for Beckenham and Penge in July.