
The Greater London Authority will examine if Khan 'exercised an appropriate level of caution' when accepting six free Taylor Swift tickets
Photo: Eva Rinaldi via Wikimedia Commons
Sadiq Khan faces probe over free Taylor Swift tickets
The Mayor of London is the latest Labour politician to face criticism for accepting Taylor Swift tickets after Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid back the cost of six tickets gifted by Universal Music Group last year.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) has confirmed it will investigate the Mayor of London for accepting six free tickets to a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley Stadium last summer.
Sadiq Kahn watched the gig on 15 August from a box alongside five other City Hall staff members, including two senior officials.
In October, BBC London revealed that Khan’s declaration of the tickets, worth around £3,000, to the official City Hall register was submitted 10 days late, understated their value and gave incorrect information about who they were from.
Khan originally valued the total ticket value at £1,164 and attributed them to the Football Association when a private events company paid for them.
GLA said it would examine whether the Mayor of London had “exercised an appropriate level of caution” when accepting the tickets but dismissed three further allegations made in a formal complaint by Susan Hall, a Conservative member of the London Assembly and former mayoral candidate.
In response, Hall said: “Whilst I welcome an investigation into the propriety of accepting these tickets, after months of asking Khan for answers, I am disappointed that the monitoring officer isn’t considering the fact that the mayor declared these tickets late, initially mis-declared who donated them, that they were undervalued, or that the donor was a GLA contractor.”
“More answers are desperately needed,” she added.
A spokesperson for Khan said he has no involvement in the procurement process for GLA events or in the tendering of related contracts.
“The mayor’s office will continue to ensure all the right processes are followed and looks forward to explaining the approach that was taken in this instance,” they said.
Criticism of Khan for accepting the tickets follows political fallout for Labour last autumn over donations, which resulted in Prime Minister Keir Starmer paying back over £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality, including the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets gifted by Universal Music Group.
Several cabinet ministers also declared they had accepted free Swift tickets in the parliamentary register of interests, which led to questions over the extra security granted during her London tenure, including a blue-light escort from police.
Swift’s August stint at Wembley marked her first Eras tour shows following a foiled terror plot that led to the cancellation of three dates in Vienna.
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