Your support helps us to tell the story
As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.
Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.
Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election
Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Sir Keir Starmer’s wife accepted two free tickets worth hundreds of pounds each to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, it has emerged.
It was previously known that Lady Starmer attended the popstar’s Wembley concert with the prime minister in June.
But it has now been revealed that she went to a second concert at Wembley Stadium without Sir Keir in August.
Several top Labour figures were also at the concert, including health secretary Wes Streeting, education secretary Bridget Phillipson and culture secretary Lisa Nandy, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The figures are believed to have declared the tickets in their MPs’ and ministerial registers of interests.
The news comes after a row over Sir Keir and Lady Starmer accepting clothing worth thousands of pounds from a major Labour donor. Waheed Alli has bought more than £5,000 worth of high-end clothes for Lady Victoria over the past four months, The Times reported.
Overall, Lord Alli has given more than £500,000 to Labour over the last 20 years.
While the gifts were not initially included in the register of MPs’ interests, Sir Keir will avoid an embarrassing probe by the parliamentary standards commissioner.
Earlier this year, Lord Alli was embroiled in a “cash for access” row after it was revealed he had been given a Downing Street pass.
The prominent donor gave tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of clothing, accommodation and spectacles to the Labour leader.
Ministers have repeatedly stumbled over questions about why Sir Keir, a former top lawyer now paid £167,000 as PM, does not pay for his own clothes.
Foreign secretary David Lammy said Sir Keir relied on donations because he wants himself and his wife to “look their best” on behalf of the British public. And he appeared to complain that Britain does not have a similar system to the US, where the president and first lady can use taxpayers’ cash to refresh their wardrobes.
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said she “does not have an opinion” on whether he should buy his own clothes, even accusing an interviewer of “ranting” about the row.