LONDON — MPs enjoyed free hospitality at the U.K.’s top events this summer, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer accepting tickets to Ascot for his family.
Google paid for several MPs to attend Glastonbury Festival including Labour’s Chris Curtis, Dan Aldridge, Leigh Ingham, Steve Race, Jake Richards and Fred Thomas. The hospitality cost of the individual packages was worth up to £4,000.
Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage, who has been critical of tech companies using copyrighted material to train their AI models, also took a Glastonbury ticket and a tent from Google. Deputy Speaker in the Commons and fellow Tory Nusrat Ghani was also gifted a ticket by the tech giant.
Other MPs getting free Glastonbury tickets were Lib Dem tech spokesperson Victoria Collins and Labour MP James Frith thanks to PRS for Music, a group lobbying to protect musicians’ copyrighted material.
Rows over freebies caused the prime minister problems last year and he repaid £6,000 worth of gifts. The register shows him accepting £650 of Ascot tickets this summer for three family members.
Dozens of Conservative and Labour MPs also took free tickets to Silverstone and Wimbledon this summer. Enjoying the British Grand Prix were Labour’s Callum Anderson and Paula Barker, and Conservatives Charlie Dewhirst and Sarah Bool.
MPs have to declare gifts worth over £300 within 28 days of accepting.
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