As MPs prepare to head back to parliament next week, you’ll be relieved to hear that some of the most prominent figures in British politics have been enjoying the season’s cultural highlights – and without paying a penny. MPs throughout the Commons have received £400,000 of “freebies” to concerts, sports matches and other events so far this year, according to the most recent disclosures. Over the summer alone, Wes Streeting, now the defence secretary, enjoyed the Chelsea flower show thanks to Lloyds Banking Group covering the £1,839 cost, as did the shadow chancellor, Mel Stride.
Lucy Powell, who has since become deputy leader of the Labour party and education secretary, accepted £858-worth of tickets to a Harry Styles concert at Wembley from the PRS for Music industry group. Meanwhile, the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, nabbed seats at Wimbledon worth £1,360 from the All England Club. Totalled up, MPs have been gifted £100,000 more so far this year than in the whole of 2025, with recipients seemingly learning few lessons from Keir Starmer’s “passes for glasses” scandal, in which a Labour peer gifted the then prime minister designer eyewear and clothes before being spotted in Downing Street with a temporary security pass.
Like many of these types of stories, there’s some nuance lurking behind the headlines. MPs quite rightly go to events linked to their constituency or local area. Andy Burnham accepting £3,800 tickets to the Brit awards in Manchester – when he was the regional mayor – to spotlight the city hosting the event for the first time is not the same as Streeting presumably just really wanting to meet Monty Don.
The increase can also partly be explained by the fact MPs have become more consistent about declaring hospitality on the parliamentary register after Starmer changed the rules, while ticket prices are well known to have gone up across the board. And yet, wade through the details of gigs and horse racing and it’s hard not to conclude some MPs are simply practising blatant grifting. Call it a treat for a seat, where our elected officials are enjoying must-see shows as a kind of unofficial bonus.
That much of this stuff was gifted by big business, including gambling firms and banks, makes the whole thing feel considerably grubbier. Why did the betting company Flutter want to shower then local backbencher and now chief whip, Anneliese Midgley, with high-priced tickets to the Grand National and Cheltenham? Public perception of such luxury perks will be even more unforgiving against a backdrop of an ongoing cost of living crisis.
A night at the Ivor Novello awards may not be the duck house-level opulence of 2009’s expenses scandal, but the optics are little better. While much of the population are struggling to pay their electric and food bills, MPs are getting out the fascinators for Ladies’ Day at Aintree. Politicians, of course, are human.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
