Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is facing backlash after accepting free tickets to Taylor Swift’s Wembley concert, just days after personally pushing for a VIP police escort for the pop star. Cooper and her husband, former MP Ed Balls, attended the show courtesy of Swift’s music label, Universal, scoring £170 tickets each in a move that’s riled up critics accusing her of mingling personal perks with public duty.
Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan reportedly intervened to secure a special police convoy for Swift, a request initially resisted by the Met’s Special Escort Group, which typically reserves such services for royalty and top officials. The convoy request came after Swift’s mother and manager, Andrea Swift, allegedly threatened to cancel the UK shows over security concerns, following a foiled bomb plot at a Vienna concert. On the night of Swift’s August performance, police motorcycles escorted her to Wembley, blocking traffic and ushering the convoy through, drawing public concern about the use of taxpayer resources for celebrity escorts.
Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly has blasted the move, demanding an explanation from Labour over the VIP treatment, stating that the Met’s resources “should not be used by private individuals or as traffic assistants for pop stars.” Tory MP Robert Jenrick was equally critical, saying, “This is a government so shameless they’d seemingly sell our police for a couple of concert tickets and a friendship bracelet from billionaires.”
The fallout has extended to Sir Keir Starmer, who has also faced scrutiny for accepting free tickets to Swift’s June show, with calls for Labour to clarify their stance on accepting concert freebies. Amid the uproar, Cooper initially offered to declare the tickets on the MPs’ register of interests, but after consulting officials, she was informed it was not required. However, in response to public pressure, she declared the donation yesterday.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has defended the decision, emphasizing that ministers routinely discuss security for high-profile events. Nandy argued, “When you have major events with a security risk, the Home Secretary will be part of that conversation… but the use of police resources remains an operational matter.” She dismissed accusations of a conflict, noting that Sky News and other major outlets also attended in similar VIP boxes, to which Sky’s Kay Burley quickly retorted that she “paid for my tickets up front eight months earlier.”
The issue of concert freebies has sparked wider scrutiny of government officials and their relationship with private perks, leaving it to the public to decide if such practices undermine their role or are simply part of modern political life.
