Yvette Cooper is facing demands to make a Commons statement to lift ‘the veil of secrecy’ over whether she helped Taylor Swift to get her VVIP police escort for her London shows.
The Home Secretary was challenged to come to the Despatch Box and disclose the full details of her discussions with the Metropolitan Police over the extraordinary decision.
The demands came amid mounting controversy over how the billionaire singer received a blue-light motorcycle escort – normally strictly reserved for royalty and politicians. Sources close to the Home Secretary and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have insisted the decision was left to police.
However, senior Tory MP John Glen last night challenged Ms Cooper to come to the Commons this week to make a statement about the affair.
He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It is highly unusual – if not completely unprecedented – for the rich and famous to get taxpayer-funded security in this way.
Yvette Cooper is facing demands to make a Commons statement to lift ‘the veil of secrecy’ over whether she helped Taylor Swift to get her police escort for her London shows, which the Home Secretary attended with her husband Ed Balls
The American megastar played eight shows at Wembley Stadium across June and August
John Glen last night challenged Ms Cooper to come to the Commons this week to make a statement about the affair
‘For that reason, we hear that the Met originally refused to provide it, only to reverse that decision after Ms Cooper and Mr Khan got involved.
‘The Home Secretary cannot hide behind the veil of secrecy that has been thrown over this extraordinary decision.’
Mr Glen also demanded to know what the Special Escort Group protection cost and whether Ms Swift’s representatives made any contribution to the bill.
Scotland Yard is understood to have reversed its decision for a VVIP escort following discussions with Ms Cooper and Mr Khan, who has overall responsibility for policing in the capital.
It is understood that Ms Cooper attended a Taylor Swift concert on August 16 but sources were unable to say if the blue-light security was given for the pop star on that particular occasion.
A source close to Ms Cooper has made clear to The Mail on Sunday that she would refuse any calls to talk in the Commons about operational policing decisions.
But Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick has expressed surprise that the Home Secretary was involved in any degree.
Sources close to the Home Secretary and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have insisted the decision was left to police
He said: ‘These decisions are supposed to be made by the police, who are operationally independent.
‘The decision by Yvette Cooper to intervene to help a celebrity glide through the streets of London while she and her Cabinet colleagues were accepting tickets to concerts was bizarre.’
Former Tory Home Office Minister Damian Green added: ‘Yvette Cooper would be well advised to be completely transparent.’
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly last week wrote to Ms Cooper, saying the Special Escort Group was for ‘royalty, senior Government Ministers and guests of government and state… not private individuals or as traffic assistants for pop stars’.
