Lady Starmer accepted free Taylor Swift tickets worth hundreds of pounds
Lady Starmer accepted two free tickets worth hundreds of pounds each to see Taylor Swift this summer.
It had been known that she attended one of the singer’s concerts at Wembley Stadium with the Prime Minister on June 21.
However, it has now been revealed that she attended another of the star’s gigs at the same venue on Aug 15, this time without Sir Keir.
Also at the concert were several senior Labour figures, including Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, and Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary.
Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, attended another Swift concert on Aug 20 after receiving four tickets and hospitality worth £3,400.
Mr Streeting, Mr Jones and Ms Phillipson declared their tickets and they have appeared on their register of member’s interests.
It means that Cabinet ministers accepted a total of more than £9,000 worth of Taylor Swift tickets over the summer.
MPs are supposed to declare gifts and donations to the parliamentary authorities within 28 days of receiving them.
They must inform officials of “any interest which someone might reasonably consider to influence their actions or words as an MP”, with the declarations then published on the register of members’ financial interests.
No 10 insisted that Lady Starmer’s second ticket had been declared. However, it has not yet appeared on her husband’s register of interests.
Ms Nandy’s declaration also has not yet appeared on the register.
Her spokesman said that this was because it would be listed on the separate register of ministerial interests, which is only updated every three months.
The spokesman said Mr Streeting, Ms Phillipson and Mr Jones attended the show in their roles as MPs rather than as members of the Cabinet, which is why they declared their gifts on the members’ interests register.
It comes amid a row over Lady Starmer’s acceptance of £5,000 worth of free clothing, garment alterations and personal shopping from millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli.
The Prime Minister only declared the gifts to his wife, thought to have been received both before and after he entered Downing Street, last week after initially believing they did not need to be added to the register.
On Monday, she also wore a dress at a London Fashion Week event that had been loaned to her by the designer Edeline Lee.
Sir Keir received four tickets for Swift’s first stop at Wembley Stadium on her Eras Tour in June, during the general election campaign.
He shared a picture of himself and his wife in front of the 90,000-strong crowd as they looked on from a hospitality booth.
The tickets were worth £4,000 in total, according to the declaration in the register of members’ interests, and were paid for by the Premier League.
While it is not known how much Lady Starmer’s second ticket was worth, because it has not yet appeared on Sir Keir’s register, Mr Streeting received four tickets which he said were worth £1,160; while Ms Phillipson received two for £522.54.
Mr Jones received four tickets worth £3,400 for the concert on Aug 20. All tickets were paid for by the Football Association.
Downing Street said of Lady Starmer’s tickets: “The Aug 15 tickets have been declared.”