Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attended Taylor Swift’s concert in London for free using tickets provided to her husband by the megastar’s music label Universal, Sky News can reveal.Ms Cooper went as a guest of her husband, former Labour minister Ed Balls, who was given four tickets on 4 August, before Swift’s shows in Vienna were cancelled after a terror plot was foiled.
Later that month, Ms Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke to the Metropolitan Police to encourage them to give the megastar a “VVIP escort” through London for her Wembley Stadium concerts.The Met were reportedly reluctant to sign it off as a blue-light escort is typically reserved for senior members of the Royal Family and high-level politicians, as it comes at huge expense to the taxpayer, The Sun reported.The tickets were understood to be worth £170 – less than the £300 that would make it a declarable expense – but the home secretary made the declaration to the Cabinet Office earlier today.
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