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Labour MP’s million-pound loan from Lord Alli

(Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Another day, another drama. Now it transpires that a Labour MP took a million-pound loan from Lord Alli – to buy a flat for her sister. Mitcham and Morden’s MP Siobhain McDonagh was helped in her bid to buy accommodation for her terminally ill sibling and formerly Labour’s first female general secretary, Baroness McDonagh, by Alli – with the Labour peer said to be the ‘best friend’ of the donor. How curious…

McDonagh registered the £1.2 million loan from Alli in March last year, stating that it was an ‘interest free loan to bet repaid on the sale of the home I share with a family member’. She added: ‘The move was necessary to provide the family member with complete ground floor access.’ Defending the decision, McDonagh took to social media to write:

Waheed Alli was my sister’s best friend for 25 years. Tragically she was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumour in November 2021 and died on 24 June 2023.

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Steerpike
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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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