LONDON — British government ministers stepped in to ensure Taylor Swift got extra police protection for her spate of sell-out Wembley gigs over the summer.
According to a report in the Sun, Swift’s manager, her mother Andrea, pressed London’s Metropolitan Police to give the singer a blue-light escort to her Eras Tour shows after a foiled terror plot in Austria.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan were involved in talks with the police over the event. Cooper warned that any cancellation of the Swift gigs “would be economically damaging and embarrassing,” the Sun reported.
The Met’s Special Escort Group of motorcyclists — not normally used to aid private individuals — initially resisted providing protection to the singer’s entourage, according to the newspaper, but relented after Met Commissioner Mark Rowley intervened.
The move sparked some disquiet, and comes as Britain’s new government battles damaging headlines for accepting freebies, including tickets to Swift concerts.
“The SEG is dedicated to the very serious business of protecting the Royal Family, senior government ministers and foreign heads of state,” ex-Met commander John O’Connor told the Sun. “This is an abuse of an elite service.”
The move came after three of Swift’s earlier Vienna shows had to be cancelled after the CIA warned Austrian authorities about a planned terrorist attack.
U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy did not deny the Sun’s reporting when pressed on it Wednesday morning, although she stressed that ultimate decision-making on security rests with the Met.
She told LBC Radio: “The Met Police have the operational responsibility for this, not the home secretary or the mayor of London.
“But in my view, I have to say, it is absolutely right for the mayor of the city where a major event is being held and the home secretary to get involved where there are security concerns — and I know this home secretary takes that really seriously.”
She added: “You’ve got to take these things seriously and it’s right for the home secretary to be involved in a conversation about it.”
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “The Met is operationally independent. Our decision-making is based on a thorough assessment of threat, risk and harm and circumstances of each case.”
