2024 Labour Party freebies controversy

In September 2024, British prime minister Keir Starmer faced controversy after reports that he had failed to declare a gift of several thousands pounds worth of clothes to his wife Victoria Starmer by Labour Party donor Waheed Alli, Baron Alli. Subsequent debate arose over the number of gifts accepted by Starmer during his time as leader of the Labour Party, with Reuters reporting that he had accepted more gifts than any other MP since 2019.

The controversy continued into October 2024, when it was reported that the Special Escort Group of London's Metropolitan Police had provided singer-songwriter Taylor Swift a top-level security service for her London Eras Tour shows in August following the Vienna terrorism plot, after the home secretary Yvette Cooper allegedly pressured them to offer the security after she, Starmer and several other senior members of his cabinet received over £20,000 in free tickets for the shows by Swift's team. Starmer and his government denied accusations that Cooper played a part in granting the security to Swift or pressuring the police to do so, or that the free tickets were gifted to the politicians in exchange for the security grant, maintaining that it was solely a police matter.

The controversy drew criticism from both opposition politicians and politicians from the governing Labour Party, with critics accusing Starmer's government of hypocrisy for accepting the gifts while pursuing economic austerity and cuts to welfare, with Labour MP Rosie Duffield resigning from the party in protest. Defenders of the government argued there was no wrongdoing as no legal rules had been broken and that political donations were normal. Starmer himself dismissed accusations of corruption, stating that all MPs accepted gifts and that he had to accept hospitality to attend shows for security reasons.