No 10 denies Swift tickets were ‘thank you’ to Starmer

Getty ImagesDowning Street has denied Sir Keir Starmer received free Taylor Swift tickets as a "thank you" for the singer getting a police escort to her concerts at Wembley in August.
Swift was given a motorbike convoy to protect her on the way to the London stadium despite initial reservations about the arrangement from the police.
The prime minister met the singer backstage at the show, it has emerged.
He received four tickets worth £2,800 from the singer’s record label Universal Music for one of her concerts that month. Sir Keir later paid back Universal for the cost of the tickets.
Asked if they were a "thank you" for Downing Street leaning on the Metropolitan Police, the PM’s official spokesman said: “I completely reject that characterisation."
“It’s ultimately up to the police to take operational decisions in relation to these big events,” he said.
It's understood the prime minister and his family had a 10-minute chat with Swift and her mother Andrea, and the conversation solely covered the Southport attacks, which took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop.
Two government sources have told the BBC that senior members of Sir Keir’s team had contact with the singer’s management over her security arrangements.
Downing Street refused to deny this but a spokesperson said: “It is right for the government to have conversations and a dialogue around the arrangements pertaining to major events to ensure that these go forward safely and smoothly."
Government sources said Sir Keir had received tickets from Universal Music because the company was based in his central London constituency.
Labour politicians who have received free tickets to Taylor Swift concerts in recent months include chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones and newly elected MP for Beckenham and Penge Liam Conlon, the son of Sir Keir’s former chief of staff, Sue Gray.
Last week it emerged Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan had been involved in talks about security around the US superstar's shows over the summer, following the cancellation of her Vienna gigs due to a foiled terror plot.
Cooper and Khan both received free tickets to the Wembley shows.