A GOVERNMENT minister has defended Keir Starmer for using a Labour donor’s £18 million penthouse to broadcast a stay-at-home message during Covid, which he seemingly tried to pass off as his own home.

The Prime Minister urged the public to work from home in a Christmas message which was reportedly filmed in Lord Alli’s flat in December 2021 – when he was the leader of the opposition to the Tory government.

Starmer appeared to be speaking from his own home, with shelves behind him filled with Christmas cards and a picture of his family.

Five days before the broadcast the Tory government announced new guidance urging people to work from home where possible in a bid to stop the spread of a new strain of Covid-19.

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Labour minister Tan Dhesi insisted that Starmer is a “man of integrity” during an interview with Sky News’s Kay Burley, where he was grilled about the pictures of the Prime Minister’s children in the background in Alli’s apartment.

When asked about what he thought about Starmer’s backdrop in the video message suggesting he was at home Dhesi (below) said: “As I understand and like the Prime Minister said nothing untoward and nothing illegal happened.”

(Image: Mike Swift)

Burley then said Starmer was trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes to which Dhesi said: “I would take him at his word, I think he’s a man of integrity.”

During the awkward two-minute exchange Burley grilled Dhesi over Starmer’s attempt to misrepresent his location, highlighting the fact he had a family picture in the background at the Labour donors home, which Dhesi was unable to justify.

The Labour MP tried to pass off the picture as something as innocuous as having a flag or some books behind him during a speech.

Starmer’s “home” video message was rumbled after the designer shelves behind him were identified to have had previously appeared in a video from inside Alli’s flat.

This latest revelation follows yesterday's news that the Prime Minister accepted a £20,000 donation in accommodation by Alli for his son to revise for his GCSEs.

He has refused to apologise for accepting the donation of accommodation for his son, and instead pleaded with journalists to look at a “human story” behind accepting the freebie.

Asked whether he would like to say sorry for the row, he told LBC: “I’m not going to apologise for not doing anything wrong.”

The row over declarations by MPs and senior ministers overshadowed the Labour conference this week, with criticism aimed at both the PM and his ministers for accepting luxury gifts from wealthy donors while announcing cuts to Winter Fuel Payments.

The Labour leader and other senior ministers were previously forced to say they would no longer take donations for clothing now they are in government, but left the door open to receiving more access to events.