By james art Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, pointed to the threat of a terrorist attack on the US pop star’s Eras tour in Austria as he defended the police escort given to Swift in London.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer attended a sold-out Swift show for free and met the Shake It Off singer after the government’s intervention in discussions about her security, which led to her being given a taxpayer-funded police escort during a Wembley performance.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who attended the talks, also accepted free tickets.
Conservative MP Bob Blackman (Harrow East) told the House of Commons: “The provision of a blue light escort is clearly a matter for operational policing.
“But last week my colleagues in the London Assembly wrote to (Mr McFadden) asking for an inquiry into the giving of tickets to politicians, including the Labor Mayor of London, and the pressure that was then put on the Metropolitan Police to provide an escort for Taylor Swift.
“So can he actually do that inquiry, that review, so that we can see what happened and make sure that if mistakes were made, they can be rectified and it won’t happen again.”
Mr McFadden replied: “These are operational decisions for the police.
“But I have to tell him that I’m glad that the person who is currently the biggest global pop star in the world was able to play in London, especially after the threat of a terrorist attack at her previous concerts in Austria.
“I’m glad the show went on.”
Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle appeared to joke that Mr McFadden was a “Swiftie”, the nickname given to fans of Taylor Swift.
Sir Keir and his family spoke to Swift and her mother for about 10 minutes at one of her Wembley shows in August.
It is understood there was no discussion of security measures during the call and that the conversation focused on the Southport attack.
Sir Keir earlier this month paid back concert tickets he received from Universal Music amid a row over freebies.