'Not good enough!' Keir Starmer blasted over £30k taxpayer-funded Downing Street flat makeover

Georgia Pearce
Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:45:44 +0000

Sir Keir Starmer's £30,000 taxpayer-funded makeover on his Downing Street flat has been blasted by a Tory Shadow Minister.

Speaking to GB News, the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland expressed his "frustration" at the Prime Minister's use of taxpayer money to purchase items including a TV unit and a shower screen.

A People's Channel investigation has revealed the Prime Minister spent £30,000 of taxpayer money on the flat at No11, including £1,395 on a singular TV unit and £1,630 on a shower screen.

Officials acting for Sir Keir and Lady Starmer also spent £4,440 on three sofas, £990 on six kitchen chairs and £1,207.50 on two dining tables.

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Discussing the flat's hefty makeover bill on GB News, Mr Burghart told Christopher Hope that they have had to fight "tooth and nail" to obtain Sir Keir's spending figures.

He said: "We understand that No10 is a historic residence and it's got to be maintained, but we have had to fight tooth and nail to get these figures. In Parliament, we've asked about six months to release this information.

"It's only when we put in a Freedom of Information request, which is kind of got legal bearing on it, that they finally coughed up the information."

Mr Burghart argued that offering transparency and scrutiny on such costs will enable them to "keep costs down".

He explained: "The reason it's important is because scrutiny is what keeps costs down. If civil servants and the Prime Minister and the secretaries of state know that the opposition, that Conservative Party is going to be bearing down on all their figures, well, they'll get a better deal.

"And that means that they'll spend public money better, and it means that taxpayers who watch your show will know that their money is being spent as effectively as it can."

Mr Burghart took aim at another extortionate cost listed in the flat makeover, expressing his "frustration" at paintwork costing more than £9,000.

He fumed: "It was about £9,000 for the paint job. I'm pretty sure that you could get that done at a much better rate.

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"And the fact that we're putting pressure on the Government this way means that when they're thinking about painting Government departments or that they're going to do other things around Whitehall, they'll be pushing now for better contracts. So this type of scrutiny is incredibly important."

Heaping pressure on the Prime Minister, Mr Burghart accused the Labour Government of "not engaging in the process until it was forced to".

He told GB News: "It's very, very frustrating that the Government hasn't engaged with this process at all until it was forced to.

"There's obviously got to be some maintenance, the question is, is the taxpayer getting value for money? And I don't believe in this instance they are."

Reiterating the point of "transparency" in Government, Mr Burghart concluded: "All MPs, we have things for our offices, we get pencils and paper and pens and printer cartridges and so on, but the public can go online and see what we've spent that money on and see that we're getting good value for them.

"That hasn't happened in this case, and it's the Prime Minister and where he lives, and this isn't good enough."

In a statement, a Downing Street spokesman told GB News: "The flat was empty when the PM entered office, so the Cabinet Office furnished it as per long-standing guidance across successive administrations.

"The refurbishment came under the allocated budget, and none of the items belong to the Prime Minister. They will remain the property of the Government for future use."