Why Keir Starmer’s bid to be seen as ‘Mr Rules’ might come back to haunt him

The Labour leader faces an investigation into whether he broke parliamentary rules by being late in registering earnings and gifts. It comes at exactly the wrong time, writes Jon Stone

Sir Keir Starmer is under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner (PA)

The allegations against Keir Starmer being investigated by the parliamentary standards commissioner appear to be relatively minor. Labour will be hoping their political consequences are too.

The exact claims about what the Labour leader did wrong have not been made public, but an examination of his register of interests provides a few clues.

Starmer appears to have been late to register six different payments and gifts – relating mostly to free football tickets and advance payments for his book.

In total the entries amount to £3,303.01 in late registrations. MPs have to record these interests within 28 days or they fall foul of the commissioner. In most cases the registrations were just a few days or weeks late.

It is difficult to see what impact Starmer’s late registrations might have had: did they influence any parliamentary debate, and was the temporary concealment deliberate? It seems unlikely.

There is a chance the allegations relate to something more serious. Starmer previously registered tens of thousands of pounds of legal work since becoming an MP, though he has not done so since becoming leader. But Starmer’s office seems to be fairly confident that the allegations relate to late registration. The Labour leader has said he is “absolutely confident. There’s no problem here.”

Yet despite the minor nature of these accusations, they are still not what Starmer needed. The opposition leader’s party has in recent months taken a significant lead consistently for the first time since he took charge.

This has happened not because of any particular increase in the Labour vote, but because the Tory vote has collapsed in the wake of the Partygate scandal.

During the period Starmer made hay of Boris Johnson breaking the rules, while the prime minister downplayed them. The Labour leader’s colleagues dubbed him “Mr Rules”. So it is not useful for him to be pulled into another investigation about rule-breaking.

Another, because of course he is already under investigation by Durham police for allegedly breaking lockdown rules himself.

Neither investigation has yet concluded, but the issue is that voters sick of Johnson’s rule-breaking might look at the Labour leader and conclude politicians are all the same. In a move to differentiate himself from the prime minister’s reaction to Partygate, Starmer has said he will resign if he is fined for breaking lockdown rules, on the basis that he said Johnson should do the same.

He hasn’t made the same commitment about rules on outside earnings and gifts – any whiff of hypocrisy could be useful ammunition for Johnson, or another Tory leader, to use against him.