Exclusive: Starmer Kept Taking VIP Football Tickets Even After ‘Freebies’ Scandal

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Keir Starmer has continued to accept a flurry of free VIP football tickets worth close to £10,000 even after a “freebie” row last year, Novara Media can reveal. Starmer previously paid back £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality after uproar at the gifts he received in the lead-up to becoming Prime Minister.

Starmer’s continued acceptance of freebies could cause consternation amongst MPs and the public in light of next week’s vote to cut welfare provision for disabled people and recipients of Personal Independent Payments (PIP). One Labour MP told Novara that Starmer’s decision to continue to accept VIP football tickets was “shameful” in light of the Labour government’s planned cuts.

But Starmer’s new football “freebies” have also enmeshed Starmer in a web of conflicts related to the appointment of the new chair of the Independent Football Regulator, David Kogan. Kogan’s appointment is already under investigation by the commissioner for public appointments following allegations of cronyism linked to donations made by Kogan to both Starmer and culture minister Lisa Nandy.

An analysis of Sir Keir’s Parliamentary register of interests by Novara Media shows that he accepted £9,250 in VIP football tickets and hospitality, primarily from Arsenal, since November 2024. This includes £3,000 that Starmer accepted in April 2025 to watch three matches in the exclusive director’s box at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

Starmer accepted the free tickets during the same period in which he is alleged to have involved himself in the decision-making that led to the appointment of David Kogan as the first ever chairperson of the newly created Independent Football Regulator. Kogan is reportedly Arsenal executive chair Tim Lewis’s pick for the role, although club sources have denied this.

The regulator is due to be established imminently following the ratification of the Football Governance Bill. The regulator will have extensive powers of scrutiny over the financial affairs and conduct of the country’s professional football clubs, including Arsenal.

VIP access.

Simon Kuper, the Financial Times columnist and author of books on football and a recent well-received book on corruption in British public life told Novara Media: “Not only can Arsenal executives get regular access to Starmer, but businesspeople who want to arrange a meeting with Starmer can get their own VIP access and try to bump into him fortuitously.”

Concerns have long been raised about Starmer’s potential conflict of interest in taking free football tickets. In September 2024, in the wake of the damaging “freebie scandal” that centred around Starmer accepting tens of thousands of pounds in gifts, clothing, holidays and football tickets prior to becoming prime minister, Starmer agreed to pay back £6,000 in gifts. Downing Street nevertheless informed reporters that Starmer “was refusing to recuse himself from decision-making over the football regulator.”

Starmer appears to have stopped accepting freebies in September last year following media scrutiny, but resumed taking them in November. The Sun reported on his appearance in the directors’ box for the Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest game in November 2024, while the Telegraph noted his acceptance of tickets for one game in December 2024; but since then the media has stopped scrutinising this issue.

In total, Starmer has accepted £9,000 from Arsenal Football Club since November 2024. This was the estimated cost of accepting two tickets and hospitality in the club’s exclusive director’s box for nine games. The free tickets enabled Starmer to watch a number of high-profile Premier League and Champions League clashes, including games against Manchester United, Manchester City and London rivals Chelsea.

Additionally, Starmer accepted director’s box tickets and hospitality for two people from Brighton and Hove Albion in January this year. The tickets were valued at £250 and allowed Starmer to watch Arsenal play Brighton away from home in the director’s box at the Amex stadium.

Two days after Starmer attended the Brighton match, the chief executive of Brighton, Paul Barber, was interviewed alongside Arsenal vice-executive chair Lewis and West Ham’s Karen Brady in the Times. They used the interview to criticise aspects of the new regulation and raise concerns about its implementation.

Lewis told the Times: “We’d like the political leadership we have now, as opposed to the political leadership we have prior to the election, to listen to us so we can improve this bill.” Starmer attended six matches at the Emirates in the directors box following the interview.

Since September 2024 Starmer has included a new note in the “miscellaneous” section to his parliamentary declarations to give further context to his acceptance of free tickets from Arsenal. “I remain a paid season ticket holder at Arsenal but, given security advice, the club has said it will find seats for my son and I in the director’s box whenever practicable,” it reads.

Starmer has no season ticket with Brighton, so his explanatory note in his Register of Member’s interests would not apply to his decision to accept tickets from Brighton.

“This is shameful.”

Unlike Starmer, neither former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn nor ex-PM Rishi Sunak made use of VIP hospitality boxes, preferring to sit in the main stands.

Sunak was frequently pictured sitting amongst fans in the stands watching his favourite club, Southampton, while serving as prime minister. Similarly, Jeremy Corbyn was also pictured sitting in the stands at the Emirates while leader of the opposition.

They also do not appear to have accepted free tickets to facilitate their attendance at the matches, according to their register of member’s interests. In a February 2025 interview, Corbyn criticised Starmer’s security argument. “I don’t like corporate boxes in football or anywhere else. Sometimes you have to say to security: ‘I’m a human being as well’,” Corbyn told The Guardian.

One prominent Labour MP told Novara Media that the decision to continue accepting freebies, even in light of security concerns, was an “abject failure on all counts.”

“Given the furore just ten months ago over Starmer’ freebies, given the reaction the public had, this really feels like they are looking at the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of the law. This stuff really erodes public trust in politicians, and in Starmer himself, and feeds the narrative of the far-right that all politicians have their nose in the trough and they are in it for themselves.”

The MP also accused Starmer of “hiding” behind his season ticket and security concerns.

“If Starmer wants to use the VIP provision, he should pay for it. He earns £160,000 a year, has his travel and transport and accommodation paid for. He can afford it. He can pay the VIP ticket asking price. There are real conflict of interest issues here.”

“This is a prime minister looking to take up to £4,500 from some of the most vulnerable and poorest people in the country, yet he’s still taking freebies,” the MP said. “This is shameful.”

The prime minister’s man.

Whatever the merits of Starmer’s security concerns, they have led to an ongoing arrangement which puts the prime minister in close proximity with Arsenal’s senior management team, at a time when he had controversially refused to recuse himself from the appointment of the first ever chairperson of the newly created Independent Football Regulator.

Starmer accepted the largest number of tickets in April this year, the month in which Kogan’s appointment was announced by culture secretary Lisa Nandy.

The Guardian reported that Starmer was personally involved in the decision-making process that led to Kogan’s appointment, “with Kogan very much the prime minister’s man.” Lisa Nandy, the department for culture, media and sport (DCMS) Secretary who announced Kogan’s appointment, was however reported to have originally resisted Kogan’s recommendation for fears that it would be seen as a political appointment due to his previous donations to the Labour Party.

On 2 June this year, Nandy surprisingly announced her recusal from the final stage of the appointment of Kogan due to accepting donations from him during her 2020 leadership bid. Her announcement came at the same time that the independent Commissioner on Public Appointments, William Shawcross, wrote to the department for culture, media and sport (DCMS) permanent secretary to confirm he was launching a “full inquiry” into Kogan’s appointment to ensure that his appointment was “made in accordance with the governance code on government appointments.” Shawcross confirmed that his investigation would likely involve interviews with both Kogan and Nandy.

Stuart Andrew, the Tory shadow culture secretary, has commented that Nandy’s decision to recuse herself was “a necessary move that highlights just how compromised this selection has become.”

Labour was criticised for failing to disclose Kogan’s history of donations to the Labour party at the time of the announcement of his appointment, which subsequently came to light through media reporting.

Electoral Commission disclosures reveal that Kogan made donations valued at £6,400 to the Labour Party since July 2023, which has been widely reported. However, current reporting has largely failed to note that this figure included a donation of £2,500 that Kogan made on 24 of May 2024 – two days after the calling of last year’s general election.

The Labour party accounting unit that accepted the £2,500 payment was the Holborn and St Pancras constituency Labour party, the seat represented by Starmer. Kogan therefore donated directly to the Starmer’s own constituency Labour party branch two days after the calling of the general election. Kogan donated a further £27,010 to a number of Labour party MPs between 2022 and 2024.

The DCMS select committee, dominated by Labour MPs, ultimately endorsed Kogan’s selection, but acknowledged “that there are concerns about his political impartiality and past donations to the Labour party.” The committee advised that Kogan “take concrete steps to reassure the football community that he will act impartially and in a politically neutral way.”

Strikingly, Kogan said in his testimony to the DCMS select committee that he had originally decided not to apply for the role as chair of the regulator following the “freebies” furore. “There was also a lot of noise going around about Labour donors, as you might recall – not about the sort of donor I was, namely a donor to local parliamentary candidates, but different types of donations,” Kogan told the committee about his decision not to apply by the November 2024 deadline. “I decided that it had gone on too long, and I was too busy, and I withdrew from the process.”

Kogan’s appointment raises conflict of interest questions, according to politicians and anti-corruption experts.

“Wherever donations, gifts and hospitality coincide with a public appointment, there are always going to be legitimate questions about conflicts of interest,” says Susan Hawley, the Executive Director of the anti-corruption charity Spotlight on Corruption. “It is clearly highly undesirable for someone who has received direct donations from an individual to be directly involved in appointing them to a public role.”

Rose Whiffen, a Senior Research Officer at Transparency International UK told Novara Media that “the acceptance of gifts and hospitality by senior government figures shakes public confidence in the integrity of decision-making processes. When public officials accept benefits from parties who may be affected by their decisions, it creates an inherent conflict that can undermine both actual and perceived independence.”

Kuper said Arsenal plays the same role “as an elite private members club a hundred years ago. Almost All the powerbrokers live in London, and it has one of the newest stadiums and some of the best VIP provision; if they’re going to go to a game in the VIP section, they’re mostly going to Arsenal as its kind of the prime venue in English football for this sort of high-worth networking.”

“This appears to be gob smacking levels of complacency from the Prime Minister,” says Zack Polanski, the Green party London Assembly Member who is currently running for the role of leader of the Green party.

“He is either utterly corrupt and destroying any sense of the principles of people in public office or he’s behaving within the rules but totally unaware of how badly the public already mistrust this government. Either way this all demonstrates a Labour administration that are plunging to new depths of unpopularity with no real plan for the country to tackle inequality – but a very real plan for Keir Starmer to personally benefit from his position.”

Taking his eyes off the ball.

Starmer’s most recent acceptance of VIP football tickets comes against the backdrop of a mounting backbench rebellion against the government’s announcement of plans to slash spending on disability benefits by as much as £5 billion.

The cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance and PIP, and last year’s freebie furore, have been widely cited as key reasons why the Labour party suffered historic defeats in last month’s local elections, including losing Runcorn in a Parliamentary by-election to Reform UK. Runcorn was, prior to the loss, the Party’s 16th safest seat. Unlike Reform’s leader Nigel Farage, Starmer did not campaign in Runcorn; but two days prior to the defeat accepted tickets and hospitality at the Emirates to watch the Champions League Semi-Final.

Kogan is set to earn £130,000 per year from the role if he is ultimately appointed as the Chair of the Regulator. He will be expected to work three days a week in the position.

Kogan has robustly defended his selection and has vowed that his history of donations would not impact on his ability to perform his duties independently and fairly.

Neither Kogan nor Number 10 responded to questions emailed ahead of publication.

A government spokesperson from DCMS told Novara Media: “We have received the letter from the commissioner for public appointments and we look forward to co-operating fully with his office. The appointment is in the process of being ratified in the usual way.”