Delay means many will have already voted. Why not now?

Keir Starmer on today’s Peston

After failing to give a direct answer to a question about his donors on Sky News on Monday, Keir Starmer again avoided answering a question about who is funding his campaign for the Labour Party leadership today.

Asked by ITV’s Robert Peston – after Peston had asked viewers to suggest questions and was swamped by the same one – who his donors are, Starmer shifted responsibility onto parliamentary authorities to publish details, which he says ‘should’ be by next Monday:

But of course Starmer does not have to wait for the parliamentary authorities to publish the information he has given them. Rival Rebecca Long-Bailey has already done so unilaterally.

But by acting as if it’s up to Parliament to get round to doing it, instead of disclosing the information himself, Starmer gains another five days – or potentially more – during which votes are being cast.

It looks like a slippery answer – and avoiding the question again merely creates more suspicion that there are donors that Mr Starmer thinks will cost him votes.

So the question – which a journalist would have asked as a follow-up to his answer – becomes: “Why not now – what are you afraid of?”

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