Surely there’s a straightforward way to remove the whole problem area of clothing the government (Keir Starmer and top Labour colleagues to stop taking clothes gifts from donors, 20 September). Immediately upon appointment, each member of the cabinet should surrender their own wardrobe and choose from an approved list of British suppliers of clothing.
Personal shoppers would ensure that everyone looked their best (granted, not always an easy task) and any costs involved would be met from a central fund, taking account of benefits to the supplier from the exposure of their products on a world stage. On leaving the government, all garments would be surrendered and donated to charity. Sales generally may be boosted; aspiring politicians would rush to buy from, say, the M&S Prime Minister range or Foreign Secretary at John Lewis.
Anne Cowper
Bishopston, Swansea
In his seminal work The Gift, the French anthropologist Marcel Mauss wrote: “The gift not yet repaid debases the man who accepts it.” And so, whichever way you look at it, Sir Keir Starmer is debased. If he has failed to repay the gifts in the form of influence, he is debased in the eyes of the giver. If he has repaid the gifts, he is debased in the eyes of the electorate.
John Lowery
London
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