Keir Starmer bought a pair of personalized silver cufflinks given to him by Donald Trump and his wife Melania, according to the latest transparency records.
The cufflinks, worth more than £140, were an official gift from Trump during the US president’s second state visit last September. They are the second gift from Trump, who paid for a personalized necklace last year and chose to buy Starmer.
Official rules say the government must keep ministerial gifts worth more than £140, unless the minister in question decides to pay more than that limit.
Downing Street did not reveal the exact value of the cufflinks, which are understood to have been bought as a gift for the prime minister’s son.
Last year’s visit was a carefully managed affair, before the king was hosted for a lavish dinner at Windsor Castle.
Stormer presented the President with a Ministerial Red Box with the Presidential seal and title, and the First Lady with a silk scarf designed by Ukrainian children.
In return he received a personalized silver necklace, personalized silver cufflinks and a personalized golf club. His wife, Victoria, received a pair of women’s cowboy boots.
The Cabinet Office said last year Stormer chose to buy the necklace, but the cufflinks, golf club and cowboy boots were all kept by the department. According to officials, the Prime Minister recently decided to buy cufflinks.
Records show he received several other gifts worth more than £140 in September.
Among them are woodcuts of Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; a personalized rugby shirt, leather boots and beer from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese; and a demonstration model of an AI supercomputer from technology firm Nvidia. All were kept by the department without purchase by Starmer.
Ministerial gifts can occasionally cause diplomatic controversy, such as when Barack Obama gave Gordon Brown a DVD box set of 25 classic American films during the then prime minister’s visit to Washington in 2009. Brown, in contrast, presented the then president with a decorative pen holder fashioned from the wood of the anti-slavery ship HMS Gannet.
Gifts from Trump have caused upsets in his personal life in the past.
Actor Charlie Sheen told The Graham Norton Show in 2016 that Trump gave him fake diamond and platinum cufflinks as wedding gifts.
