Keir Starmer’s meeting with Taylor Swift has left people on social media feeling thoroughly underwhelmed.
According to Sky News on Tuesday, the prime minister and his family spoke to the pop star for 10 minutes when they attended her Wembley Stadium concert – for free – almost two months ago.
Starmer and the singer spoke about the Southport stabbings, when three young girls were tragically killed while attending a Swift-themed yoga and dance class at the end of July.
This crossover between the prime minister and an international superstar comes amid ongoing questions about whether the government intervened security for the star’s London concerts.
Days after a terror scare at her gig in Austria, Swift was given a taxpayer-funded police escort which us usually reserved for senior royals and high-level politicians.
This move has raised eyebrows as the Metropolitan Police initially decided not to give one to Swift.
It was later reported that home secretary Yvette Cooper and London mayor Sadiq Khan asked the Met Police to encourage them to give the megastar a “VVIP escort”.
But, Downing Street has repeatedly said this provision of security was an operational issue for the police and denied that senior figures were given free tickets to the show as a ‘thank you’ for Swift’s blue light treatment.
And, following a row over how many freebies top government ministers have enjoyed, Starmer ended up paying for the tickets to the Swift gig himself.
Luckily for the prime minister, who has faced a flurry of backlash in his first 100 days in the job, it does not look like many people on social media think his meeting with Swift is a big deal at all.
In fact, sarcasm filled social media as accounts on X effectively rolled their eyes, and compared it to the more substantial scandals which have dominated politics in recent years...
I truly, deeply, to the depths of my soul do not believe anybody gives a fuck about this Taylor Swift tickets saga.
— James (@JamesFl) October 15, 2024It’s a second Watergate. https://t.co/TOTfn1C840
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) October 16, 2024Listen, if Taylor Swift suddenly gets awarded a contract to provide healthcare services to the NHS, is given part of the HS2 line to run or gets given a life peerage like Lord Siberia or whatever he’s called, then let’s chat about Starmer taking his kids to her concert shall we.
— Brendan May (@bmay) October 16, 2024The Taylor Swift “scandal” is…not a scandal. At all. pic.twitter.com/nYEFXtn1uM
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) October 16, 2024No way.
That is SHOCKING BEYOND BELIEF.
Our elected PM meets a singer.
Whatever next? https://t.co/vCAB9TIaCh
Where was this coverage when Boris Johnson, as foreign secretary, met Russian oligarchs and former KGB officers without aides? https://t.co/3cUSKymtWl
— Best for Britain (@BestForBritain) October 16, 2024I really don’t get this bollocks. Starmer meets singer. So what. Singer who’s brought millions of pounds to our economy and whose concert elsewhere faced a terror threat gets security. Again, so what. No one gives a rat’s arse about this. https://t.co/ftOESLN2L2
— Michael Dugher (@MichaelDugher) October 15, 2024