Sadiq Khan has declined to say that he will follow in the footsteps of Sir Keir Starmer and pay for free tickets he received to watch a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley Stadium.
The mayor was gifted six tickets, each worth £194, to see the US superstar perform during her record-breaking run of concerts at the national stadium in August.
According to his entry in the City Hall register, he received them from the Football Association “as a thank you for successful Champions League Final delivery” in June, when Real Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-0.
On Wednesday the Prime Minister announced that he would cover the cost of six tickets he received to an earlier Taylor Swift concert at Wembley, two of which were also gifted by the FA.
Speaking on Thursday during a visit to the Piccadilly line factory in Goole, Yorkshire, Mr Khan vowed to continue to “bang the drum” for London – and implied that VIP tickets enabled him to “mix and mingle with decision makers”.
He told The Standard: “I don’t resile from London being the cultural capital of the world. London was the city that Taylor Swift played more concerts in, of any city in the world.
“It’s really important for us to understand that one of the roles that I have is to bang the drum for our city, whether it’s American football, baseball, basketball, whether it’s Taylor Swift, whether it’s other concerts that are taking place in our city, whether it’s [London] Fashion Week.
“Like the previous two mayors, I’m going to carry on banging the drum for our city - and that means also going to events where I can mix and mingle with decision makers who will decide whether future events come to London. I’m going to carry on banging the drum for our great city.”
Mr Khan received a single ticket to the Champions League final, as a guest of UEFA. He valued the ticket and the accompanying hospitality at an estimated £1,000 as it was not “commercially available”.
This year he also declared a £50 model bus from Go Ahead, and a £260 hamper from Fortnum & Mason that was sent as an Eid gift and which it would have been “impolite to decline”.
He also received two tickets to the Carabao cup final, worth a total of £800, from the English Football League. Mr Khan supports Liverpool, who defeated Chelea to claim the cup.
Last year he was gifted two tickets to Liverpool v Arsenal, to Luton v Liverpool and to Brentford v Liverpool, and to concerts by Madonna at the O2 and Bruce Springsteen at Hyde Park.
Asked if the Prime Minister had over-reacted in repaying the cost of the gifted tickets, Mr Khan said: “I think what I welcome is over-declaring rather than under-declaring, as the previous lot did.
“I welcome the fact that Keir Starmer wants to raise the bar and have new rules in relation to what ministers can and can’t do.
“The reason why the public gets angry is because they are concerned – legitimate concern – that giving these free tickets leads to undue influence. That can’t be right.
“I think what Keir Starmer is trying to do is to show the transparency and show there is no undue influence, which I think is really important.
“As soon as I became mayor, I made sure that I overdeclared rather than underdeclared. Previous mayors were criticised for not declaring certain things.
“I will carry on declaring whatever I receive, but also I’ll carry on banging the drum for our great city.
“I would be criticised for not trying to get more business to our city, whether it’s cultural events, whether it’s sporting events, whether it’s other events that make our city, in my view, the greatest city in the world.”
