Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision to accept corporate hospitality from Arsenal Football Club, insisting it would cost the taxpayer ‘an absolute fortune’ for him to sit in the stands at the Emirates.
Starmer has been an avid supporter of Arsenal since the 1980s and has been a season-ticket holder for a number of years, with the 62-year-old often pictured watching the club both home and away.
However, since becoming PM, Starmer has been advised by security officials to refrain from using his normal seat, where he had previously watched the Gunners with his teenage son, Toby, and close friends.
Starmer has, in turn, accepted an offer of two corporate seats free of charge, a decision which comes amid calls for an investigation into the Labour politician’s failure to declare the donation of clothes to his wife, Victoria.
The BBC report that Starmer has declared over £12,000 worth of tickets and hospitality for Arsenal matches from the club itself, other teams, the Premier League and commercial companies since becoming Labour leader.
‘I’ve had a season ticket for many, many years in the stands at Arsenal. I’m a regular attender,’ Starmer told the BBC when pressed on his decision to move from the stands to corporate seating.
‘But now, for security reasons, I can’t go in the stands and therefore the club have made arrangements for me to watch from elsewhere. It’s as simple as that.’
Starmer confirmed that he would not be giving up his season ticket but had to make ‘different arrangements’ due his status as Prime Minister.
‘I’d love, in a way, to be in the stands, it’s where I’ve watched… I don’t know how many matches,’ he continued.
‘But as you will you appreciate, once the security advice is, “You can’t do it”, or that it costs the taxpayer an absolute fortune to put I don’t know how many police officers in, then we had to make different arrangements, and we have.’
In a separate interview with BBC Yorkshire, Starmer insisted it was ‘common sense’ not to ask the taxpayer to ‘indulge’ him by taking up his usual position in the stands.
‘Frankly, I’d rather be in the stands, but I’m not going to ask the taxpayer to indulge me to be in the stands, when I could go and sit somewhere else,’ he added.
‘That’s for me, a common sense situation.’
Prime ministers are expected to declare corporate tickets to all matches they attend, with an approximate value given, as a benefit in kind in their MP’s register.
Records show that Starmer has accepted almost £66,000 worth in gifts, hospitality and event tickets over the last year.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, ex-deputy Labour leader Baroness Harman argued that sitting in a corporate box at Arsenal was the safest and most sensible option for Starmer.
However, on Starmer reportedly receiving nearly £19,000 worth of work clothes and numerous pairs of glasses, Harman said: ‘It feels a bit like a misstep because most people have to buy their own clothes to go to work and the prime minister is not low paid.
‘I just don’t think he’s likely to do it again.’