Why is this still a story? - Labour in the mire

Half of my social media timelines at the moment are questioning why Starmer going to a Taylor Swift concert is even a story. It's not news, they say, it is just tittle tattle. Well, yes it is, but in politics tittle tattle counts and if you are naive enough to put on a fully-justified police escort for a superstar performer, and then accept freebie tickets that enable you to meet her backstage then frankly, you shouldn't complain.

It is precisely because the opposition and their allies in the media are able to tie up the freebie misjudgement with the police escort that it is still a story. They are able to suggest that special treatment was given to Swift in exchange for personal favours. In fact the two are not likely to be related, but the fact Labour has left themselves open to the implication means that the story has legs and boy, is it running.

Even the Guardian, a paper of the centre-left that would normally take Starmer's side, is reporting it. They quote No.10 sources to record that Keir Starmer met Taylor Swift at one of her London concerts days after a decision was taken to grant her a “blue light” police escort.

They say that the prime minister and his family had a 10-minute meeting with the pop megastar and her mother, Andrea, backstage at Wembley on 20 August, with the conversation covering the Southport murders, which took place at a Swift-themed holiday club:

The Guardian has been told that there was no discussion of the police motorbike convoy that had been provided for Swift and her entourage, and which Downing Street has repeatedly insisted was an operational matter for Scotland Yard.

No 10 had initially declined to comment when asked if Starmer had met the billionaire pop star when he and his family were invited on 16 August to the Wembley gig by Universal Music, but the “brush-by” was confirmed after it was reported by the Sun.

It was also reported that Swift was given convoys to the stadium for five gigs from 15 August, despite initial police reservations, with her mother negotiating arrangements directly with former No 10 chief of staff Sue Gray.

Downing Street has denied that Starmer received the free tickets as a “thank you” for the singer getting a police escort to her concerts. “I completely reject that characterisation,” his spokesperson said. “It’s ultimately up to the police to take operational decisions in relation to these big events.”

Starmer declared the tickets, worth £2,800, to the final night of the Eras tour in London in line with the parliamentary rules, but later paid them back following weeks of criticism over accepting thousands of pounds worth of freebies.

No 10 has faced repeated questions over the decision to give Swift and her entourage a police convoy by the Special Escort Group (SEG), a specialist unit of the Metropolitan police usually reserved for the royal family and senior politicians.

Downing Street says the move, which came after the pop star pulled out of three planned concerts in Vienna when police foiled a terror plot, was an operational matter for police.

However, the police decision was reportedly changed after representations from Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, about the economic repercussions if the huge concerts were called off.

Starmer’s spokesperson did not deny that No 10 potentially had had conversations with Swift’s team, saying “conversation and dialogue” about such security matters was completely routine.

Among the donations Starmer repaid was £598 for two tickets to Swift’s Wembley concert five days earlier, paid for by the Football Association, which owns the stadium. He did not attend this concert, with the register of MPs’ interests saying these were “offered to and accepted by family members”.

Cooper also attended one of Swift’s Wembley concerts with her husband, the former Labour minister Ed Balls, who was offered tickets by the star’s record company.

The paper adds that some government insiders have acknowledged that the public is holding Labour ministers to a higher standard, after they won the election promising they would run the country in the service of working people, and be different from their predecessors.

That is certainly true and the sooner Labour acknowledge that and act accordingly they will have a chance to move the agenda on.