A Labour Lord who gifted Sir Keir Starmer more than £30,000 for designer suits and spectacles has been named in the Epstein files. Waheed Alli, or Lord Alli, was at the centre of one of the first scandals of this Labour Government when it was revealed he was Sir Keir’s biggest personal donor. Angela Rayner, then Deputy Prime Minister, was also embroiled in the revelations when she admitted to receiving around £3,550 from Lord Alli for working clothing.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves was also implicated in the so-called ‘Freebiegate’ story when she admitted taking a donation from another Labour supporter, Juliet Rosenfield, which was also used to pay for clothing. The PM, Ms Reeves and Ms Rayner all said they would no longer accept donations to pay for clothes following the backlash in 2024. However, in what looks like another headache for Sir Keir, Lord Alli has now appeared in the Epstein Files linked to the notorious billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Prime Minister has already come under pressure following the release of documents by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) that mention Labour big beast Peter Mandelson, whom Sir Keir appointed as ambassador to the US despite reportedly knowing of Lord Mandelson’s connections to Epstein.
The Mail on Sunday reports that emails unearthed from the millions of files released by the DoJ on Epstein show that Lord Alli appeared on a list of guests due to attend a dinner hosted by Epstein at the Monkey Bar restaurant in New York in February 2010.
The peer was also listed as a guest for a large dinner in August 2010, but it’s not known if Lord Alli attended either function.
In an email, Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019, wrote to himself with the title of the communication as “contacts”.
Lord Alli’s name and that of Peter Mandelson appear in the email, and Lord Alli also appears in another alleged email from May 2012. In that message, Epstein tells a friend that Mandelson and Lord Alli were staying at Shelter Island in the Hamptons, a region near New York known as a playground for America’s elite.
In an exchange between Epstein and businesswoman Jennie Enterprise about the Hamptons, she allegedly writes “yes… u close?”, to which Epstein replies with a message littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. He replies: “no my fined peter mandel son , former dep prime minister engalnd’ gay is with another black gay , walid , currently on shelter island.”
The Mail on Sunday reports “Walid” is understood to be a reference to Lord Alli, who, like Mandelson, is gay. Lord Alli owns a property on Shelter Island, which is now for sale, according to the newspaper.
Lord Alli’s lawyer told the publication: “Lord Alli has never knowingly met or communicated with Jeffrey Epstein.”