The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, is being investigated by the Greater London Authority for accepting free tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. The investigation started after members of the Conservative Party in the London Assembly raised concerns about whether Khan broke any rules about accepting gifts. Swift even skipped Kelce’s game following her after-party.
In October, BBC London reported that Khan didn’t properly declare the tickets on time and made a mistake on the City Hall register. The mayor’s office said it was a simple mistake, which has now been fixed.
Khan received six tickets, worth around £3,000, from a private company to attend the Taylor Swift concert at Wembley Stadium on August 15. He was with five City Hall staff members, including two senior officials. The company that gave him the tickets has worked with City Hall before.
Conservative Assembly Member Susan Hall wrote to the GLA’s monitoring officer, Rory McKenna, asking whether the mayor’s actions broke the rules. She also asked why the tickets weren’t declared on time and if a technical issue caused the delay. She questioned whether it was okay for the mayor to accept gifts from a company that works with the GLA.
The GLA said the monitoring officer has looked at the complaint and will investigate whether Khan was careful enough when accepting the tickets. However, the officer decided not to investigate some of the other concerns.
Hall said she was disappointed that the investigation isn’t looking into the late declaration of the tickets, their low value, or the fact that the company donating the tickets worked with the GLA. She wants more answers.
A spokesperson for Khan’s office said the mayor wasn’t involved in the process of choosing companies for City Hall events and promised that all the right steps would be followed.
