Getty ImagesHousing Minister Matthew Pennycook said it was “personally I don’t think it’s appropriate” for the Prime Minister to accept a free concert ticket after taking his family and watching pop star Sabrina Carpenter without paying.
Rachel Reeves defended taking tickets for the show at the O2 Arena for security reasons.
On Monday, the prime minister supported the prime minister, saying, “What she did according to the rules.”
Keir Starmer ir tightened the rules on ministers accepting gifts and hospitality following a backlash against figures from senior workers who received giveaways last year.
Ministers are not prohibited from accepting gifts as long as they are declared, but under the new rules they must consider the need to maintain the trust of the people.
I asked at LBC how many times I accepted my free ticket to the O2 Arena. In his Greenwich and Woolwich constituencies, Penny Cook replied “zero.”
Looking for his thoughts on Reeves who takes a free ticket to watch Sabrina Carpenter, Penny Cook said: “I don’t think that’s appropriate.
“If you want to go to a concert at O2, I will pay for it – but the individual ministers, who are individual lawmakers, make their own decisions.
“I think the important thing is that everything is declared on the board, so individual people can choose whether or not they think it’s appropriate to take a ticket from time to time.
“Like I said, I’m not doing it on O2 personally, but I wouldn’t.”
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner argued that Penny Cook, the minister of her division, had not criticized the prime minister’s actions.
She said he would not accept hospitality at O2 as the venue is in his constituency and it would be a potential conflict of interest.
Facing criticism of donations, including staying in a worker-owned New York apartment, Rayner said accepting hospitality “is going on across the political spectrum.”
She said there was a “very clear” rule in BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, and Reeves “declared it (the ticket) in the right way.”
But former Interior Secretary Blanket said he didn’t accept free tickets even if he was still in the government.
“I wouldn’t have done that,” Worker Pier told BBC politics live.
“I would have sat in the audience.”
In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with the Laura Kuenssberg program, Reeves defended her decision to accept tickets because she “thought it was the right thing from a security perspective.”
She said: “I have security right now, meaning just sitting at a concert isn’t as easy as it was in the past, but that’s probably much easier for everyone involved.”
Also asked why she didn’t pay for the tickets, Reeves said, “These weren’t tickets you could pay, so there was no price for those tickets… They weren’t tickets you could buy.”
In support of the prime minister on Monday, the prime minister told the BBC:
In October, Ir Keel repaid the gifts and hospitality he received since becoming prime minister, including a ticket for Taylor Swift.
However, he defends accepting tickets for Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium’s corporate box, saying that for security reasons he can’t see the game from the stands.
In September, Downing Street said the prime ministers would no longer accept donations of clothing.
Mike Wood of the conservative Shadow Cabinet Office said Reeves “have to kick his addiction to giveaways.”
In response to Penny Cook’s comments, he said:
“When the senior minister of labor is openly criticizing her judgment, that’s not surprising, and so is investors.”
Conservative shadow business secretary Andrew Griffiths faces questions about accepting £4,000 hospitality to attend the BAFTA awards with his wife in February, and also faces £973 for skiing in Davos, Switzerland.
Griffiths claimed that attending BAFTAS was “completely different” to Reeves’ free tickets, and told the BBC over the weekend that “many ministers and people from various stakeholders were there as well.”
He added that “connection with Swiss lawmakers” will help secure financial services transactions and create jobs.
