Yvette Cooper attended Taylor Swift concert for free before star was given police escort
The revelation comes amid a row over police protection normally reserved for senior royalty and politicians being given to the singer.
Yvette Cooperattended a Taylor Swift concert for free after pushing for the star to get a police escort, according to reports.
The Home Secretary reportedly went to the Wembley show on August 16 as a guest of her husband, former Labour minister Ed Balls, who had four tickets from the singer's music label Universal.
The tickets were understood to be worth £170 - less than the £300 that would make it a declarable expense.
But Ms Cooper made the declaration to the Cabinet Office earlier today, Sky News reported.
It comes amid a row over the American singer being given a "VVIP" police escort to her Eras Tour shows in London over the summer after dates in Vienna were cancelled because of a terror threat.
The Sun reported that the star was given a motorbike convoy to protect her on the way to Wembley after interventions by Ms Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan despite initial police reservations.
A source close to the Home Secretary said: "The London Taylor Swift concerts in August came immediately after the cancellation of her Vienna concerts, following the discovery of a terror plot which the CIA's deputy director said was designed to kill 'tens of thousands' of attendees, and which led to widespread questions about whether the London concerts would go ahead.
"They also came after a fortnight of serious and violent disorder in a number of British towns and cities, which followed the terrible attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
"In the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack on the Ariana Grande concert in 2017, security arrangements for events like these are taken extremely seriously. Indeed, the government will shortly legislate for Martyn's Law to improve the security of venues.
"We can make categorically clear that all operational decisions were made by the Metropolitan Police and they do not discuss security arrangements."
Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Khan and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy were given free tickets to Eras Tour concerts, although the PM has since paid back the money.
Downing Street would not be drawn on whether No 10 was directly involved in discussions about Swift's security.
A Met Police spokesperson said: "The Met is operationally independent. Our decision-making is based on a thorough assessment of threat, risk and harm and the circumstances of each case.
"It is our longstanding position that we don't comment on the specific details of protective security arrangements."
