MPs' Summer of Concerts, Wimbledon and Football Fun

MPs’ Summer of Concerts, Wimbledon and Football Fun

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Summer may be the time MPs head back to their constituencies, though that hasn’t stopped many members attending the social events of the season on all expenses-paid freebie tickets. The latest update to the Members’ Register of Interests has revealed our parliamentarians have been enjoying Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, the Chelsea Flower Show, the Pet Shop Boys and plenty of football among other events. Here are some of the more interesting examples…

• Football proved a popular freebie for our MPs. In the cabinet alone, Keir Starmer, David Lammy, Jonathan Reynolds, Wes Streeting and Pat McFadden were amongst those bagging free tickets, usually on the padded seat of a hospitality box. Their visits alone were worth over £6,000. Score…
• Some of the summer’s biggest music events were also attended by our parliamentarians. Former Tory Chair Richard Holden bagged a camping ticket at Glastonbury valued at £950, Labour newbie Polly Billington saw a Pet Shop Boys performance at The Royal Opera House worth £500, and Pat McFadden got freebie tickets for him and his wife to see Bruce Springsteen. Saving £328 in the process…
• Keir Starmer snagged four tickets worth £4,000 to see Talyor Swift’s Eras Tour. Corbynista Dan Carden, Labour’s Kim Johnson, Catherine McKinnell, now former Labour MP Ian Byrne also enjoyed the concert worth a total of £4,700. Not such a Cruel Summer for them…
• A whopping £22,221 worth of tickets and hospitality was dished out by donors for members to attend the British Grand Prix. Tory MP Greg Smith, the biggest recipient, bagged six tickets worth over £7,300, while Priti Patel found herself in the ‘Legends Suite’, to the value of £3,300. Nice to qualify for those tickets…
• Wimbledon tickets accounted for another £2,112 worth of freebies. Scottish Labour MPs Tracy Gilbert and Gordon McKee two finals tickets worth £275 each, whilst LibDem’s Layla Moran, Labour’s Stephanie Peacock and Toby Perkins all attended earlier matches. Advantage of being an MP…
• Three MPs secured entry to the Chelsea Flower Show, with Tan Dhesi scooping hospitality tickets worth £895. Jeremy Hunt and his wife received tickets worth £370, as did the appropriately named Tulip Siddiq.

Social events aside, some MP’s have been generating eye-watering sums on the international circuit, namely Suella Braverman. She netted £56,171 for ‘speaking engagements’ in South Korea, expensing £27,801 for a four-night trip to Israel with her husband. At least she has her speeches to fall back on since she crashed out of the Tory leadership race…