LONDON (AP) —
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday it is “right” that he has paid back more than 6,000 pounds ($8,000) worth of gifts and hospitality, following a row over freebies.
For weeks, Starmer has faced criticism over the scale of the donations, which included clothes, eyeglasses and tickets to his beloved soccer team Arsenal, that he received over recent years.
During the last parliamentary term from 2019 to 2024, Starmer received around 100,000 pounds worth of donations, substantially more than any other member of parliament. Though the donations were legal and properly filed with officials in the U.K. Parliament, the row has dented Starmer’s popularity ratings.
According to officials at his 10 Downing Street offices, Starmer has covered the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets at London's Wembley Stadium, four to a horse racing event and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favored by his wife, Victoria Starmer.
“We are now going to bring forward principles for donations, because, until now, politicians have used their best individual judgment on a case-by-case basis. I think we need some principles of general application," he said while on a visit to Brussels. “So, I took the position that until the principles are in place it was right for me to make those repayments.”
In an effort to bring the row, which also embroiled other leading members of his government, to a conclusion, Starmer has committed to overhauling hospitality rules for ministers in order to ensure better transparency.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to the media at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (Benjamin Cremel, Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives for a meeting at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (Benjamin Cremel, Pool Photo via AP)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee state authorities said Wednesday they are investigating the company that owns a plastics factory where 11 workers were swept away by cataclysmic flooding unleashed by Hurricane Helene.
As the nearby Nolichucky River swelled from rainfall, employees in the Impact Plastics factory in Erwin, a small community in rural Tennessee, kept working. Several asserted that they weren’t allowed to leave in time to avoid the storm’s impact. It wasn’t until water flooded into the parking lot and the power went out that the plant shut down and sent workers home.
Several never made it.
The raging waters swept 11 people away, and only five were rescued. Two of them are confirmed dead and are part of a toll across six states that has surpassed 160. Four others in the factory are still missing since they were washed away Friday in Erwin, where dozens of people were also rescued off the roof of a hospital.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Leslie Earhart said Wednesday that the agency is investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics at the direction of the local prosecutor.
District Attorney Steven R. Finney said in a statement that he asked the bureau to look into any potential criminal violations related to the “occurrences” on Friday.
“Impact Plastics has not been contacted by the TBI yet but will fully cooperate with their investigation,” said the company's spokesperson Tony Treadway. He said the company is preparing an internal review which it will release to the public.
Some workers managed to drive away from the plant, while others got caught on a clogged road where water rose high enough to sweep vehicles away. Videos show the brown floodwaters covering the nearby highway and lapping at the doors of Impact Plastics.
Jacob Ingram, a mold changer at the factory, filmed himself and four others waiting for rescue as bobbing vehicles floated by. He later posted the videos on Facebook with the caption, “Just wanna say im lucky to be alive.” Videos of the helicopter rescue were posted on social media later Saturday.
In one video, Ingram looks down at the camera, a green Tennessee National Guard helicopter hovering above him, hoisting one of the other survivors. In another, a soldier rigs the next evacuee in a harness.
Impact Plastics said in a statement Monday that it “continued to monitor weather conditions” Friday and that managers dismissed employees “when water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power.”
In interviews with local news outlets, two of the workers who made it out of the facility disputed those claims. One told News 5 WCYB that employees were made to wait until it was “too late.” Another, Ingram, made a similar statement to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
“They should’ve evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings, and when they saw the parking lot,” Ingram said. “We asked them if we should evacuate, and they told us not yet, it wasn’t bad enough.”
Worker Robert Jarvis told News 5 WCYB that the company should have let them leave earlier.
Jarvis said he tried to drive away in his car, but the water on the main road got too high, and only off-road vehicles were finding ways out of the flood zone.
“The water was coming up,” he said. “A guy in a 4x4 came, picked a bunch of us up and saved our lives, or we’d have been dead, too.”
The 11 workers found temporary respite on the back of a truck driven by a passerby, but it soon tipped over after debris hit it, Ingram said.
Ingram said he survived by grabbing onto plastic pipes that were on the truck. He said he and four others floated for about half a mile (about 800 meters) before they found safety on a sturdy pile of debris.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,” company founder Gerald O’Connor said in the statement Monday. “Those who are missing or deceased, and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.”
The two confirmed dead at the Tennessee plastics factory are Mexican citizens, said Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, executive director at Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. She said many of the victims’ families have started online fundraisers to cover funeral costs and other expenses.
Bertha Mendoza was with her sister when the flooding started, but they got separated, according to a eulogy on her GoFundMe page authored by her daughter-in-law, who declined an interview request.
“She was loved dearly by her family, community, her church family, and co-workers,” the eulogy read.
Attanasio reported from New York. AP journalists Rhonda Shafner and Beatrice Dupuy contributed from New York.
In this image made from a video provided by NewsNation, people can be seen on the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tenn., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (NewsNation via AP)
This image taken from video from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency shows a helicopter on the roof of Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tenn., where patients and staff had to be rescued from after the Nolichucky River flooded and surrounded the building from Hurricane Helene, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Tennessee Emergency Management Agency via AP)
An aerial view of flood-damaged Unicoi County Hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Erwin, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
An aerial view of flood-damaged Unicoi County Hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Erwin, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
An aerial view of flood damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Erwin, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
An aerial view of flood damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Erwin, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
