Demands for inquiry into how Taylor Swift got a police escort

A senior Tory who scrutinises Scotland Yard yesterday joined calls for an inquiry into how Taylor Swift got a blue-light escort.

Susan Hall said the mystery of the US popstar being granted taxpayer-funded protection was 'highly concerning' and demanded the Cabinet Office launch a probe.

Ms Hall, a former Conservative mayoral candidate, chairs the Police and Crime Committee on the Greater London Assembly, which has oversight of the Metropolitan Police.

She wants answers on the issue of whether three senior Labour figures exerted 'undue and inappropriate pressure' on the Met to reverse its decision to deny Swift a police escort during her run of sell-out shows in London in August.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan both 'held discussions' with police chiefs who subsequently changed their mind and granted the elite motorcycle escort for the singer. Both politicians then enjoyed the shows with freebie tickets.

It has since been claimed that Labour's Attorney General, Lord Herner, was also asked to intervene after the Met warned that granting Swift 'VVIP' protection would breach its long-standing protocols.

Swift's management had requested a police escort in London after her shows in Austria were cancelled when police there foiled a planned terror attack.

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Last night in a letter to Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden, Ms Hall wrote: 'It is highly concerning to me that senior Labour politicians in positions of power and responsibility have sought to create this worrying precedent for future policing matters.

'Given that two of the three politicians involved subsequently accepted free tickets to Taylor Swift's concerts, it is right and proper that the Cabinet Office now opens a full investigation into this matter.'

Citing reports that the Met's original security assessment 'found that Swift did not require the level of security usually reserved for the Royal Family and senior politicians', she said it appears 'lobbying' by the Home Secretary and London Mayor led the police force to 'reverse its decision'. The alleged involvement by the Attorney General came to light at the weekend.

Ms Hall said: 'After this intervention by a third senior Labour figure, it appears the Met subsequently changed its security assessment and provided Swift with 'VVIP' status, at substantial cost to the taxpayer over the ten-night period.'

She asked Mr McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, to launch an inquiry to find out whether 'any undue and inappropriate pressure' was applied to the Met, on 'what operational basis' the Met reversed its decision, and whether the Home Secretary and mayor receiving freebie tickets had 'impacted the lobbying' undertaken by these two politicians.

The senior Tory figure added: 'It is my belief that only a full inquiry undertaken by the Cabinet Office can offer clarity on the very serious matters raised by this issue.

'Our system of policing must be free from political interference, a principle which is now evidently under threat from this new Labour government.'

Prime Minister Keir Starmer was among a string of senior Labour figures to be gifted free tickets to Swift's concerts this year. He has subsequently repaid thousands.

Yesterday, asked whether Sir Keir or anyone in Downing Street had requested the involvement of the Attorney General in Swift's police protection, the PM's official spokesman said: 'We've been clear and we remain clear that operational decisions are for the Met independently of the Government.

'Clearly, you would expect the Government, the police and the Mayor of London to be involved in planning significant events in the capital to ensure that the public is kept safe.

'You will remember the context that these concerts happened in, particularly following the planned terrorist attacks in Vienna.

'But all operational decisions are made by the Metropolitan Police independently of government.'

The Downing Street spokesman said it was the Government's 'longstanding principle' not to provide 'commentary on advice that he [the Attorney General] may or may not have given'.

Mr Khan said: 'What I'd say to people who aren't aware is that our police have operational independence.'

He added that 'of course' he, as mayor, was 'going to raise the issue of security' around the large-scale event.

He said Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley would have taken on board 'a whole host of views before he himself, as the commissioner, decided what was right and proper to do'.

The Met said: 'The Met is operationally independent. Our decision-making is based on a thorough assessment of threat, risk and harm and the circumstances of each case.'