Home Secretary Yvette Cooper did go to a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley , a minister admitted on Thursday despite a Cabinet colleague denying just 24 hours earlier that she had. As the freebies row swirling over the new Labour government grew, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted that Ms Cooper had followed advice on whether she had to declare, or not, her ticket to The Shake It Off star’s London gig. He told Sky News: “I understand the tickets were actually supplied to her partner ( Ed Balls ) and she did seek guidance and was advised as to the right way to do that.
.but as they were not given to her she followed the guidance that was given.” Ms Cooper publicly declared the ticket on Wednesday amid the controversy over Swift being given a police escort through London and the role the Home Secretary and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan may have had in the decision to lay on this protection.
But her move inevitably left open the question why she had not made public earlier that she had benefited from the freebie. “I understand she specifically sought guidance on this point. The tickets had gone to her partner, she was the plus one in this situation so she followed the advice that she was given in relation to that,” stressed Mr Reynolds.
“If you were not the recipient of the hospitality in this case, you would have had a very specific set of advice around that and I know she would have always approached that in the proper fashion.” Ms Cooper is understood to ha.