Revising for exams is a stressful experience, even if your dad isn’t running to be the Prime Minister of the UK. But Kier Starmer’s son got to study in the kind of luxury most GCSE-takers could only dream of.
An £18.35 million penthouse in Covent Garden has come after scrutiny after it was revealed that the new Labour Prime Minister and his family accepted a stay at the Labour party donor’s property.
Starmer was challenged by the BBC over a £20,437 donation made by Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli, denoting several weeks’ stay in his Prime Central London home.
Starmer claimed he took up the offer to prevent his son’s studies from being disrupted by the presence of journalists outside of their £1 million family home in north London.
“I promised him we would move somewhere, get out of the house and go somewhere where he could be peacefully studying,” Starmer said on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme.
“Someone then offered me accommodation where we could do that, I took it up, and it was the right thing to do for my boy, it didn’t cost the taxpayer a penny.”
The penthouse was put on the market for £20 million in 2019. Lord Alli managed to get a discount on the asking price, purchasing the penthouse for £18.35 million at the start of 2020. It’s in an ideal location for a peer, with easy access to Whitehall and only a short journey away from the House of Lords.
The three-bedroom penthouse sits a top an award-winning boutique development of luxury apartments.
Developer Capital & Counties Properties built the new homes, designed by London-based architects KPF.
Interiors practice Studio Ashby created the interiors for the penthouse before its sale to the Labour peer. Riffing off the floral connotations of the penthouse’s location, Studio Ashby commissioned art works from local galleries as the starting point for the rooms’ designs.
Accents of sunflower yellow and Yves Klein Blue provided pops of colour against white gallery walls in the main living spaces, alongside floral fabric prints. The dining room featured a sculptural light installation by Cox London that looks like a bower of foliage.
An outdoor terrace was created by Hay Designs, with stripey cushioned seating areas, planted trees and a fire pit.
If Lord Alli didn’t make any changes after purchasing the property, Starmer’s son would have revised for his GCSE’s in the penthouse’s stylish study — painted in a peaceful sage green and complete with designer bookcases and plenty of comfortable seating options.
Starmer has refused to apologise for accepting the penthouse stay, saying was “not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong”.
The news has re-ignited a row over the Prime Minister and his front bench accepting high-value gifts from donors, including clothing and Taylor Swift tickets.
