Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, gave Keir Starmer a pistol and a box of live ammunition as a present during the Nato summit in Ankara. The gun had “Keir Starmer” engraved on it.
A similar present was given to each of the Nato leaders, each weapon bearing the recipient’s name.
The prime minister told journalists on the plane on the way home that the gun had been presented to him with no notice, in a box in his prime-ministerial car, when he arrived in Ankara.
Included in the box was a note from Erdogan giving him permission to export it from Turkey. But Starmer said he was advised to leave it behind in Ankara, because it would be illegal under British law for him to bring the gun back into the country.
The ministerial code says: “Gifts given to ministers in their ministerial capacity become the property of the government and do not need to be declared in the Register of Members’ or Lords’ Interests. Gifts of small value (currently this is set at £140) may be retained by the recipient.”
The most recent gift declared by the prime minister was a “signed England Women’s rugby shirt”, given to him by the England Women’s rugby team, and worth £500. Starmer has not yet paid the excess amount, namely £360, which he must do if he wants to keep it. Meanwhile it is retained by the Cabinet Office.
Border Force guidance says that anyone wanting to bring firearms or ammunition into the UK must hold: “the relevant import licence or certificate from the Department for Business and Trade; Home Office permission for handguns, pistols, revolvers and automatic or semi-automatic firearms; and permission from your UK regional police authority for other firearms”.
Given that handguns have been banned in the UK since the murder of 16 pupils and one teacher at Dunblane Primary School in 1996, not even the prime minister is likely to be granted permission.
Coincidentally, Rupert Lowe, the leader of Restore Britain, has just complained about the Blair government’s ban on handguns – which has prompted a long-running niche right-wing grievance – in an interview with Joe Rogan, the American podcaster. Lowe said his father had his guns taken away “because there was a murder up in Dunblane”.
The exchange of personal gifts between heads of government has long been a diplomatic minefield. George W Bush gave several foreign leaders a bomber jacket in the style he wore, with the recipient’s name emblazoned on it. Tony Blair wore his for a subsequent visit. Gordon Brown didn’t open his.
Brown did not have much luck with a gift from Barack Obama, either: a DVD box set of 25 classic American films, which were in the wrong format for European DVD players. Brown’s gift to Obama, on the other hand, was a first edition of Martin Gilbert’s seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill.
Last year, when Starmer hosted Donald Trump for his second state visit to the UK, he gave the president a ministerial red box. Trump gave him a personalised golf club (Starmer has never played golf and was the first prime minister to turn down honorary membership of a golf club linked to his Chequers country house), and a silver necklace for Victoria Starmer, which the prime minister paid to keep.
A No 10 spokesperson said it was “likely” that the gun would be decommissioned so that it could be brought back to Britain. Depending on Starmer’s sense of humour, maybe he will buy it as a memento of one of the stranger moments of his premiership.
