Keir Starmer defends corporate seats for Arsenal games

Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision to accept corporate hospitality from Arsenal football club, arguing he can no longer use his normal seats as prime minister.

The Premier League club has made two seats available to Sir Keir, a season-ticket holder, in the corporate area of Emirates Stadium.

In interviews with BBC regional political editors, he said he had been advised it would cost the taxpayer more in security costs to use his normal seat.

He added that he would “rather be in the stands”, but that accepting a corporate ticket was a “perfectly sensible arrangement”.

It comes amid recent scrutiny of gifts received by both the prime minister and his wife Victoria, including clothes gifted to her by a Labour donor.

Sir Keir, a longtime season ticket holder at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, has been spotted attending both the club’s home and away games, most recently at the club’s opening match this season against Wolves at home last month.

He has declared just over £12,000 worth of tickets and hospitality for Arsenal matches, from both the club itself, other clubs, the Premier League and commercial companies, since becoming Labour leader in 2020.

Speaking to BBC London political editor Tim Donovan, Sir Keir said he had been following Arsenal from the stands for “many, many years”, but “a lot of policing” would be required for him to continue doing this as prime minister.

He added that he would not be giving up his season ticket, but confirmed Arsenal had “made arrangements for me to watch from elsewhere”.

He did not confirm whether this would be in a corporate box, adding he did not want to say exactly where his seat would be.

The prime minister is expected to declare corporate tickets to games he attends as a benefit in kind in his MP’s register, with an approximate value given.

In a separate interview with BBC Yorkshire political editor James Vincent, Sir Keir said it would cost the taxpayer “a fortune” in extra security for him to watch games from the stands.

He added people would consider it “pretty self-indulgent if I said I’m not going to move from the stands, even if it costs the taxpayer more money”.

“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.

“That’s for me, a common sense situation,” he added.

News of Sir Keir’s decision to accept hospitality from Arsenal comes amid renewed scrutiny of the gifts and hospitality he has accepted.

The prime minister has faced criticism for missing a deadline to declare clothes gifted to his wife by Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli, only doing so more recently following “further advice” on the declaration rules.

Lord Alli was also at the centre of a row last month, after it emerged he had been given a temporary Downing Street pass.

The TV executive, a regular Labour donor, has also bought clothes and glasses for Sir Keir, according to the prime minister’s parliamentary declarations.

Records show he has accepted tens of thousands of pounds in gifts, hospitality and tickets to events since becoming Labour leader, including nearly £66,000 over the last year.

This includes £20,437 from Lord Alli for accommodation, along with £16,200 in clothes and “multiple pairs of glasses” worth a total of £2,485.

He also declared four tickets worth £4,000 from the Premier League for a Taylor Swift concert, where he was pictured alongside his wife.

Although Sir Keir is far from the only MP to have accepted freebies, former deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman said his decision to accept so many gifts was a “misstep”, and his decision to justify it was “making things worse”.

“I don’t think he should do sackcloth and ashes, I think that’s overdoing it,” she told a Sky News podcast.

“He just needs to say ‘with hindsight, I’m going to do things differently’,” she said.