Industry minister Sarah Jones suggested Sir Keir and other Labour frontbenchers took free tickets to concerts and festivals while in opposition to “build relationships” with businesses. It included Sir Keir’s £2,800 trip to see Taylor Swift and Glastonbury tickets worth more than £3,000 accepted from Google by business secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
But Ms Jones said: “There is a difference between government and opposition when you’re building relationships in opposition, it’s different when you’re a government minister with real levers of power.”
Ms Jones was sent out to defend Sir Keir’s decision to pay back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality. The move, which followed weeks of criticism of Labour ministers over freebies, was made as an updated register of MPs’ interests revealed thousands of pounds of additional freebies accepted by Sir Keir’s top team.
Bu hikaye The Independent dergisinin October 04, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Independent dergisinin October 04, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Why fans will shrug at loss of Man Utd's brightest star
A couple of years ago, if the news had broken that Marcus Rashford wished to leave Manchester United and seek his future elsewhere, the effect on the club's fans would have been dramatic.
Will Usyk or Fury 'get old overnight' in their rematch?
In boxing we have an expression we use during a fight, if one of the boxers looks bad: \"He got old overnight.\"
O'Shea is loving the battles at the Republic of Ipswich
As a player who was clocked as the fourth fastest in the Premier League last season, Dara O'Shea relishes it \"when I'm up against a striker and it's me and him\".
Sliding doors moment that saw Spurs embrace chaos
Tottenham fans will wonder what could have been tomorrow as Arne Slot brings league leaders Liverpool to north London
HS2 doesn't need a 'reset'...this line never made sense
Nobody knows how much it will cost or when it will be done. With our creaking transport system, the mounting billions would be better spent elsewhere, says Chris Blackhurst
Hope for economic growth dampened by uncertainty
Fun fact: the OECD still predicts that Britain's economy will be one of the stars of the G7 during 2025 with growth of 1.7 per cent, lagging only behind the US at 2.4 per cent.
Trump's war on the press is straight from Putin playbook
The pen may not be mightier than the sword, but it still has the power to wound. How else to explain the extraordinary remarks of the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, this week in which he revealed how stung he'd been by an editorial in The Times?
Musk calls far-right AfD party saviours of Germany
Elon Musk has described the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the country's saviour, sparking calls from Berlin for the US billionaire to \"stay out\" of their politics.
Macron swears in heated exchanges with crowds in cyclone-battered Mayotte
French president Emmanuel Macron swore during an exchange as he was heckled by angry residents of a Mayotte neighbourhood ravaged by cyclone Chido, telling them: “If it wasn’t for France, you’d be 10,000 times deeper in shit.”
Store guard helped uncover abuse of Pelicot by husband
When Gisèle Pelicot was called to talk to police in November 2020, she believed it was to discuss upskirting allegations made against her husband of 50 years.
