Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
They come with prices and vices – Starmer and the Swiftie Spads
They’re the problem it’s them: SOLOMON HUGHES on the freeloading flunkies of the Labour Party hoovering up VIP tickets to musical and sporting events
Taylor Swift performing on stage during her Eras Tour at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, June 7, 2024

LAST autumn Keir Starmer faced an embarrassing scandal, as the MPs’ register showed he and his ministers were grabbing loads of free Taylor Swift tickets. It looked like childish, grubby freeloading. 

High-sounding claims of a “government of service” looked unconvincing as Starmer and his ministers took freebies for Swift concerts — typically £500-£1,000 VIP tickets with “hospitality” — and other sporting and musical events. Thanks to newly published “transparency” registers, I can reveal it wasn’t just the MPs: loads of the backroom “special advisers” who direct Labour government policies got the Swift freebie fever too.

A new book by Times journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund suggests Starmer wanted the prime minister’s job because of its prestige, but doesn’t have a strong political “mission,” leaving the political direction to his advisers.

Cross-party cuts agenda

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds during a visit to Horiba Mira in Nuneaton, to mark the launch of the Government's Industrial Strategy, June 23, 2025
Features / 25 July 2025
25 July 2025

Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

LOOKING THE OTHER WAY: Peter Mandelson seems to have been rewarded with a post in Washington for his continued friendship with Jeffrey Epstein while Jes Staley, the former Barclays banker, has been banned from holding senior positions in finance
Features / 25 July 2025
25 July 2025

There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Construction workers during the installation of the first high speed railway platforms for the HS2 project at Old Oak Common station, west London, May 29, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025
Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaking at the launch of the Government's 10-year health plan during a visit to the Sir Ludwig Guttman Health & Wellbeing Centre in east London, July 3, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

US General Stanley McChrystal has been invited to advise on creating a ‘team of teams’ for healthcare transformation. His credentials? He previously ran interrogation bases where Iraqis were stripped naked and beaten, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
Sabrina Carpenter performs during The BRIT Awards 2025 at London's O2 Arena, March 1, 2025
Features / 16 May 2025
16 May 2025

Labour’s pop-loving front bench have snaffled up even more music tickets worth thousands apiece, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

Cartoon: Lewis Marsden
Features / 13 February 2025
13 February 2025
What’s behind the sudden wave of centrist ‘understanding’ about the real nature of Starmerism and its deep unpopularity? SOLOMON HUGHES reckons he knows the reasons for this apparent epiphany
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to guests as he hosts
Features / 24 January 2025
24 January 2025
SOLOMON HUGHES reports on how a mega-wealthy hedge fund manager is dishing out cash to a ‘cringe’ Labour Party mediocrity with contempt for the voters
QUO VADIS? James Lyons He made friends with the Labour right
Features / 24 October 2024
24 October 2024
By hiring a former TikTok PR man as its new head of comms, Labour shows that corporate wheeling and dealing rather than principled politics will be the party’s priority, says SOLOMON HUGHES