A LABOUR MP quit the party tonight blasting Sir Keir Starmer over the freebie scandal engulfing his Cabinet.
Rosie Duffield tore into the new Prime Minister for accepting gifts worth more than £100,000 from Labour peer Lord Waaheed Alli.
In a blistering letter to Sir Keir she also blamed his “cruel and unnecessary” policies.
“The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale,” she wrote.
“I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.”
She also attacked his decision to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.
Adding: “Forcing a vote [on the winter fuel payment] to make many older people iller and colder while you and your favourite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events most people would have to save hard for — why are you not showing even the slightest bit of embarrassment?”
Ms Duffield said the revelations of “hypocrisy” were increasingly “outrageous”.
She said: “I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Sir Keir is facing calls to come to Parliament and “explain himself” over the freebies scandal.
The PM is facing fresh pressure after his team admitted he received an additional £16,000 in clothes from Lord Alli.
It had originally been registered as money for his private office.
It means in total Sir Keir received £32,000 in clothes and glasses from the Labour peer and donor.
In total, he has accepted over £100,000 in free tickets to football matches, pop concerts and designer gear since 2019.
Tory shadow Cabinet minister Victoria Atkins said: “The secrecy and hypocrisy is galling – having promised a government of transparency and integrity, the Prime Minister’s freebie-grabbing of clothes, concerts, football boxes and a prime London apartment, all smells bad.
“He must explain himself to Parliament upon our return.
“As his government slashes winter fuel payments for pensioners with incomes of just £13,000, his over £100,000 of freebies looks awful.”
It comes as this newspaper reveals the sheer scale of freebies accepted by the Labour Cabinet over the past 18 months.
They accepted over £150,000 in tickets to football, Glastonbury, hospitality at major sports events and other swanky award-dos since April 2023, according to the Register of Members Financial Interests.
ARSENAL fans moaned on social media after a Leicester star escaped a yellow card for kicking the ball away.
The Gunners have twice had players shown second yellow cards for the same offence this season.
Declan Rice was sent off against Brighton, before Leandro Trossard was handed his marching orders for time-wasting vs Manchester City last weekend.
During the first-half of today’s clash with the Foxes, several Gooners online felt that Wilfred Ndidi should have been red carded.
In the 31st minute, the Nigerian was shown a yellow for an alleged foul on Riccardo Calafiori, despite seeming to get the ball.
Just a few minutes later, Ndidi was in the thick of the action again.
His team-mate Stephy Mavididi was penalised for fouling Bukayo Saka by the touchline.
With the ball lying stationary and Saka down in a heap, Ndidi prodded it a few yards over the touchline.
Arsenal fans in the stadium appeared to notice, with boos ringing down from the stands.
Plenty of others also took to social media to whinge over their supposed unfair treatment.
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One cried: “Consistency please.”
While a second moaned: “How dare we ask for consistency.”
A third claimed: “Double standard.”
Although another countered: “That’s not delaying the play as the lad is down injured. Why does this need explaining again.”
The Gunners led 1-0 at the time, courtesy of Gabriel Martinelli‘s 20th minute opener.
Trossard, having served his one-match ban in mid-week, then doubled his side’s advantage on the stroke of half-time.
Leicester came roaring back in the second-half, with James Justin‘s brilliant double restoring parity.
But having been on the end of a stoppage-time heartbreaker last weekend, Arsenal produced one of their own this time around.
Ndidi unfortunately deflected Trossard’s effort into his own net in the 94th minute, with Kai Havertz then adding a fourth to seal a 4-2 win.
Their victory saw Mikel Arteta‘s side take advantage of Manchester City’s slip up earlier in the day, after the reigning champions drew 1-1 at Newcastle.
DEAR DEIDRE: MY father treats me worse than an animal. I’m a 25-year-old woman, but I’m not allowed any freedom.
He is an anti-vaxxer and won’t allow me any medical tests, or healthcare when I am ill.
Since leaving school, I haven’t had any friends as he won’t allow them to visit.
I can’t go out alone, or use a phone.
Asking him for more is hopeless as he always says he knows what is best for me.
Working part-time, cleaning for a friend of his, I was saving money to get away.
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But that stopped during the pandemic and my dad wouldn’t let me return.
I only have £230 and know that isn’t enough to set up a home on my own.
Help, I feel so stuck.
DEIDRE SAYS: Family can be the perpetrators of domestic abuse and your dad’s treatment is very concerning.
Contact Women’s Aid (womensaid.org), who can advise you how to get away safely.
There are government grants that support domestic abuse survivors who flee and set up a new future.
DEAR DEIDRE: EVERY time we argue, my husband brings up my affair with a 19-year-old student.
It’s the biggest mistake of my life, and I lost my job over it. But he’s no saint either — he had sex with another woman — and it’s not fair for him to keep throwing this back in my face.
I’m 35 and he’s 39. We’ve been married for ten years and have a young child.
Five years ago, he had a drunken one-night stand. I found out and forgave him, and we agreed to work on our relationship. But I was angry and found it hard to trust him.
When a male student came to me with his personal problems — I was a college lecturer — I grew close to him. I could talk to him in a way I couldn’t to my husband. He was handsome and his interest in me was flattering.
Foolishly, I ended up having sex with him a few times. I quickly put a stop to it.
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But he told his friend and it got back to the college. There was an investigation and I was dismissed.
Of course, I had to tell my husband. I explained it had happened because of his infidelity, and the fact I felt so unloved.
He seemed to understand and to forgive me.
But it’s become clear he bears a grudge.
Because whenever we have a fight, which is increasingly more frequent, he’ll say: “I’m not the one who lost their job because I couldn’t keep my knickers on.”
I’m starting to hate him. I’ve told him he needs to get over it, or I’m leaving.
However, I can’t actually afford to leave. So I feel stuck with this man who is making me miserable and won’t let me move on from my mistake.
MORE FROM DEAR DEIDRE
DEIDRE SAYS: You paid a big price for your mistake and feel you were punished enough.
But your husband continues to berate you, years later, revealing he hasn’t got over it.
Perhaps he felt humiliated by the public nature of your betrayal.
Instead of giving him ultimatums, suggest that change, rather than splitting, is what you really want. It would be better if you could work through this together
My support packs, Looking After Your Relationship and Cheating, Can you Get Over It? might help.
Blaming each other isn’t productive. Tell him you want to put this behind you and start again as a couple with a clean slate.
If this isn’t possible, then you might need to discuss splitting amicably, for your child’s sake.
Counselling could help you talk more openly and honestly. See my support pack about this.
DEAR DEIDRE: WHILE I love my girlfriend, I don’t like her kids much and I don’t see why I should have to play happy families.
My girlfriend claims I don’t make any effort with them, so I can’t be invested in our relationship.
But I have a child of my own and don’t need or want more.
I’m 36 and she’s 40. She has two children, aged 14 and 17, and I have a seven-year-old, who lives with his mum.
We’ve been together for six months. As we both work, it can be hard to spend much time with each other.
So when I do get to see her, I want to be with her and only her.
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But she says she and her boys come as a package, and if I don’t want to do stuff with them, then I can’t be serious about her.
Part of the problem is that I don’t like her kids much.
They are rude and argumentative, and one of her sons is extremely disrespectful towards her.
I’ve told her she should not put up with this, and how to discipline him, but she doesn’t listen.
She wants us to go on holiday together with her kids, and I’ve said no. Now she says I’m not committed.
I would never ask her to choose between me and her children.
I just want her to understand that I’m not interested in becoming their dad, especially when they behave so badly.
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DEIDRE SAYS: Your girlfriend and her kids come as a package, at least until they’re old enough to leave home.
It’s not realistic to expect her to go on holiday without them.
Rather than telling her how to discipline her son, which she probably sees as a criticism, ask her if she’s happy about his behaviour and tell her you hate to see her treated badly.
Discuss with her ways she might be able to deal with it.
Ultimately, if you want to be with her, you will have to compromise. Talk to her and discuss ways of having some alone time.
My support pack about blended families could be useful for you both to read.
You could also contact Family Lives for more advice (familylives.org.uk, 0808 800 2222).
DEAR DEIDRE: A DECADE without sex has turned me into a depressed, angry and resentful person.
My wife stopped wanting penetrative sex when she went through the menopause.
I’m so miserable and know that if we could just make love, all my problems would go away.
I’m 58 and she’s 57. We’ve been married for 20 years.
Our sex life was great until my wife went through “the change”.
Sex became very painful for her, to the point where I wasn’t allowed to touch her at all, and her libido vanished.
Every problem gets a personal reply from one of our trained counsellors.
Fill out and submit our easy-to-use and confidential form and the Dear Deidre team will get back to you.
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As I love her, and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, I stopped even asking for intercourse.
She says there’s other ways to have sex, and seems content with kissing and cuddling.
But I’m not. For me, not having penetrative sex feels like a huge loss – I’m being denied something fundamental, a way of expressing myself as a man.
Over the years, my dissatisfaction has grown, now all I think and dream about is having sex.
I still find my wife attractive and sexy. but it’s changed my personality and how I treat her, and I hate myself for it. I snap a lot and am grumpy and sad.
When we finally talked about the issue, my wife said if it was that important to me, I could have sex with someone else.
But I’m not sure she meant it and it’s not what I want. I love her and don’t want to cheat – it’s her I want.
Am I being unreasonable?
MORE FROM DEAR DEIDRE
DEIDRE SAYS: When one partner wants sex and the other doesn’t, it can torpedo even the most loving of relationships.
Many menopausal women do experience a loss of libido and, for some, the loss of oestrogen can make sex painful.
My support packs, Love And The Mature Woman and Painful Sex, will tell you more.
HRT and topical treatments can help. But your wife needs to ask for them and, from what you say, it doesn’t sound like she wants to.
Although she recognises there’s an issue, she doesn’t appear to miss intercourse and says she’d rather you had sex with someone else.
That’s not fair. But it’s also unrealistic of you to suggest that having intercourse would be the solution to all your problems.
If talking is getting you nowhere, relationship counselling could help.
Find some support and advice by contacting Tavistock Relationships (tavistockrelationships.org, tel: 020 7380 1960).
DEAR DEIDRE: AFTER nearly two decades working in sales, I’m stressed out and miserable.
However, I can’t leave because my wife loves the good salary I bring home.
And besides, at my age, who is going to want me – I can’t do anything except for sales.
I’m 46 and my wife is 47.
We have two teenage daughters and I definitely can’t do anything until they have left home.
In the meantime, I struggle to get out of bed in the mornings.
Every problem gets a personal reply from one of our trained counsellors.
Fill out and submit our easy-to-use and confidential form and the Dear Deidre team will get back to you.
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Sunday nights are when I feel lowest. What can I do?
DEIDRE SAYS: Have you talked to your wife? She may enjoy the money but given a choice, would prioritise your happiness.
You sound depressed and when you get so low it is hard to see a way out of a challenging situation.
Talk to your doctor so they can help you get back on a more even keel.
Sales people have transferable skills so there will be other roles for you.
Once you feel a little lifted you’ll see the possibilities that are out there.
