Armed Forces minister and Birmingham Selly Oak MP Al Carns has claimed almost £36,000 in taxpayer money for communications and PR services since he was elected in 2024, according to figures released this week. The spending includes £20,900 for communications and media expenses in 2024-25 and a further £14,900 in 2025-26.
The claims come after allies have tipped Carns as a future prime minister or Cabinet minister, a profile that has grown alongside a stream of promotional videos showing him at work in his constituency. One clip showed him taking part in a pull-ups competition with a local firefighter, part of a media push that has set him apart from most of his ministerial colleagues.
His communications and PR claims were more than all other ministers combined, a figure that will sharpen scrutiny of how public money is being used to build a political profile. Carns, who was elected in 2024, has already been talked up as a possible contender in any future Labour leadership race, giving the spending a significance that goes beyond routine constituency publicity.
The concern is not that MPs are barred from promoting their work. It is that Carns has done so at a scale that dwarfs his peers while holding a senior government post, and at a time when public tolerance for political image-making is thin. The mix of ministerial responsibility, leadership speculation and unusually high communications spending will now sit uncomfortably together.
For Carns, the next question is whether the publicity helps strengthen his standing or feeds the impression that he is being packaged for something bigger. What is already clear is that his name is now attached to one of the largest communications bills claimed by any minister in the current period, and that will not be read as routine.
