Starmer met Taylor Swift backstage after accepting free tickets to her show | UK news

Keir Starmer allegedly met pop superstar Taylor Swift backstage at one of her concerts in August after accepting free tickets.

Starmer received four tickets worth £2,800 to the singer’s Wembley concert after her former chief of staff, Sue Gray, negotiated a police escort for Swift following security concerns.

Police initially refused the escort, which is normally reserved for royalty and senior foreign diplomats, but reportedly relented following orders from Starmer’s team.

Universal Music then offered the Prime Minister tickets to the show, based in his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.

The tickets are believed to have been given as a “thank you” to Starmer after she secured a police escort for Swift, which the No 10 has refused to deny.

Starmer also had a 10-minute meeting with Swift and her mother after the show, in which they discussed the recent Southport attacks that took place at a children’s dance class.

According to the Sun, Swift’s mother Andrea, who acts as her daughter’s manager, threatened to cancel the Wembley shows if the audition was not provided.

And the BBC has confirmed that senior members of Starmer’s team had been in contact with Swift’s management about her security arrangements following an attempted terrorist attack on her show in Austria.

A Downing St spokesman said: “It is right for the Government to hold talks and dialogue about the arrangements around major events to ensure they go ahead safely and smoothly.”

Asked if there was a potential conflict of interest, the spokesman said: “I completely reject this characterization because ultimately it is for the police to make operational decisions in relation to the security of these large events.”

‘Operational decisions are the Met’s. This is the end result.

Other Labor politicians given free tickets to Taylor Swift concerts in recent months include Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones and Liam Conlon, the newly elected MP for Beckenham and Penge and son of Starmer’s former chief of staff. Sue Gray.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan were also given free tickets to the show.

Starmer later paid the cost of the tickets along with around £6,0000 in gifts and hospitality he had received from the private sector after a row over “freebies” accepted by the minister turned into a major scandal over the summer.

Sarah Jones, the industry minister, said the prime minister’s motivation for paying the money was to “do more to get people to trust politicians”.

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