He should be so lucky, lucky, lucky: Reed’s £4,500 of freebies

INSIDE CROYDON INVESTIGATES:

Our first article about the borough’s MPs’ declarations has already prompted complaints to the parliamentary commissioner for standards about Chris Philp.

Now we scour the official declarations of another former Cabinet minister with interesting financial backers, the Labour MP for Streatham and Croydon North

When it comes to second jobs, apart from a few small payments earned through completing surveys for opinion polling companies, Steve Reed, the Labour MP for Croydon North since 2012, has declared no other employment outside Westminster.

All of those efforts, over many years, to undermine Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader and to shape “Project Starmer” must have kept Reed very busy.

His loyalty to PM Starmer took pride of place on his “CV”, which he published when resigning from the Cabinet before he could be sacked by Andy Burnham.

Today’s announcement that Starmer is to resign as an MP, to spend more time with his family and (lucrative) foreign affairs, might not be the final page in the Labour Together saga.

But Reed’s loss of front bench status since his stooge was ousted from No10 has certainly put a near-£70,000 per year dent in his parliamentary income. His loss of influence might also reduce the number of invitations he receives to big football matches and concerts offered by private interest groups.

Unlike many politicians, from Gooner Starmer to Croydon Mayor Jason Perry, Reed is not the sort to pull on a replica shirt and proclaim life-long devotion to a particular club in the hope of attracting a few extra votes. But that has not stopped him hoovering up hospitality tickets when they’ve been waved under his nose.

Reed accepted a pair of Wembley tickets to watch Crystal Palace in both the semi-final and final of the FA Cup in 2025 (both “gifts” being “estimated” as being worth £494), as well as enjoying £1,786-worth of a single corporate hospitality place at a Premier League game at Chelsea in 2023 (when he was the minister-in-waiting overseeing Labour’s water privatisation policies). He and a guest also went to Wembley for England’s game versus Brazil in 2024 (£500). Kerching!

In his parliamentary declarations of interest, Reed also admits getting a pair of free tickets to a Coldplay concert (£700, and no tedious wait in a virtual queue to book the tickets) and another couple to see Kylie Minogue (£583). All in, while an MP for one of the most deprived parts of London, and according to his own declarations, Steve Reed has enjoyed £4557-worth of sports and music tickets in the past couple of years. He should be so lucky, lucky, lucky…

As with our other MPs, we are left asking why elected officials are accepting jaunts and free tickets to events that have little or nothing to do with their parliamentary or constituency business. And what do the MPs’ generous donors expect in return?

In addition to the freebies, Reed’s donation record is also quite colourful.

As a Labour MP, it’s no surprise to see that Reed has received money from a trades union. What is interesting to note is that while Sarah Jones received donations from different unions, Reed has only ever received money from one: the GMB Southern Region.

Reed also declares donations of £155,200 and £10,000 from Anna Lisbet Rausing. The Rausing family made their money from owning Tetra Pak and have a history of doing all they can to avoid paying tax.

For many years, Rausing was a Conservative Party supporter, but started funding Keir Starmer’s Labour just before the 2024 General Election. Rausing then appeared on the Birthday Honours list in 2025 and became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. All just a coincidence, of course.

Reed has also received direct funding from Martin Taylor and Trevor Chinn, and the organisation he helped to found and that they funded: Labour Together. Labour Together has been linked to a variety of murky scandals, including not declaring donations, trying to discredit journalists who were investigating them, and Reed’s friend Morgan McSweeney’s part in the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s Ambassador to Washington.

The disreputable activities of Labour Together no doubt contributed to Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister, and cost Reed his job in Cabinet. Labour Together, however, continues, rebranded as “Think Labour”. It has just been revealed that Think Labour and its backers are among the largest donors behind Andy Burnham.

Reed’s declarations highlight another concern over transparency. During his time as an MP – since boundary changes in 2024, representing Streatham and Croydon North – Reed has also accepted trips to Israel and Palestine, paid for by the Labour Friends of Israel, and a trip to Dhaka and Sylhet, paid for by the Labour Friends of Bangladesh. Such “Friends” groups exist for many other countries. Other political parties have similar organisations. The groups also have very different aims, from promoting the interests of expats now resident in Britain, to promoting the interests of the government of that other country.

This has been a particular issue recently with questions around the Labour Friends of Israel group. Those questions include whether Reed, when minister for local government, was influenced by LFoI in trying to stop councils boycotting Israel over war crimes in Gaza. There are also questions about Reed’s false claims of antisemitism levelled at other politicians who oppose the genocide being committed by the Israeli government.

There appears to be no requirement on these “Friends” groups to name their members, or who is giving them money to try to influence our politicians. This raises the possibility that they can act as a money-laundering exercise for foreign influence, even hostile powers.

Inside Croydon will continue to hold all our local politicians to account, but we can only do that with your help. We know what our politicians have declared. There remains a possibility that some things – gifts, freebies, donations – might have somehow been overlooked. After all, when Steve Reed was a director of Labour Together, they “forgot” to declare at least £740,000 in donations… Reed’s organisation received a modest fine, but still had its “war chest” for Starmer’s leadership campaign.

So if you have any evidence of donations, lobbying or secret meetings involving our politicians that isn’t being declared, please get in touch and Inside Croydon will investigate.

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