London mayor Sadiq Khan has accepted more free tickets to watch his beloved Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.
Liverpool took on Newcastle United in the Carabou Cup final on March 16 but Mr Khan would have been left disappointed as his side were beaten 2-1 at the national stadium.
The mayor was gifted two tickets, worth £275 each, by the Football Association with Mr Khan declaring them in the City Hall register of gifts saying they were accepted due to a ‘stakeholder engagement’.
Emma Best, deputy leader of the City Hall Conservatives, told the Evening Standard: ‘Sir Sadiq has enjoyed over £100k worth of freebies so far as mayor of London.
‘Perhaps he’d do well to listen to his Parliamentary colleagues and consider whether accepting these tickets whilst telling Londoners to expect council tax rises, police cuts, and crumbling infrastructure smacks a little of ‘Let them eat cake’.
‘Does he really think Londoners believe all of these gifts were necessary to accept?’.
Mr Khan has accepted tickets to see Liverpool on three other occasions this season.
He was invited as a guest of Liverpool FC for their game against Bournemouth while he was in Liverpool for the Labour party conference as well as their games against London-based team Tottenham in December and Brentford in January.
The ticket was worth £1,500 and his attendance was an ‘official engagement to visit the new Riverside stand development, a world-class riverfront sports, culture and hospitality destination’.
He also attended a Fulham v Aston Villa match last October. The ticket was worth£1,500 with his attendance recorded as an ‘official engagement to visit the new Riverside stand development, a world-class riverfront sports, culture and hospitality destination’.
Mr Khan also attended the Carabou Cup final last year, when Liverpool won the trophy after defeating Chelsea 1-0.
He has also received tickets to attend three Champions League finals, including Real Madrid’s victory over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium on June 1 last year – with his seat that evening valued at £1,000.
The mayor was also at Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium in 2019 to see Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur in their Champions League final.
And he watched Liverpool lose to Real Madrid in the May 2022 final in Paris, on that occasion receiving two tickets worth £1,150 and – as on his other Champions League final trips – which were provided by European football’s governing body Uefa.
He has also registered tickets to football matches at Spurs – including their first Premier League match at their new stadium in April 2019 – as well as Liverpool, West Ham United and AFC Wimbledon.
It comes amid ongoing controversy about politicians accepting free gifts.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said it was ‘inappropriate’ to take free tickets to gigs at the O2,which sits within his Greenwich and Woolwich constituency.
The extraordinary attack on his colleague Chancellor Rachel Reeves who defended accepting the £600 worth of Sabrina Carpenter tickets for her and a ‘family member’, pointing to security issues.
However, support for embattled Ms Reeves from within government has been distinctly muted.
Yesterday Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander effectively cut her fellow Cabinet minister adrift saying she did not have ‘anything further to add’ and stressing she had not taken any tickets personally.
Downing Street also gave a lukewarm endorsement, saying the Prime Minister ‘supports all of his ministers making their own judgments’ over hospitality.
Mr Pennycook told LBC: ‘I don’t personally think it’s appropriate. If I want to go to a concert at the O2 I’ll pay for it.
‘But individual MPs, individual ministers make their own decisions. I think that the important thing is that everything is declared and above board, so individual people can make their choices as to whether they think it’s appropriate to take tickets on occasions.
‘I personally haven’t done, as I said, at the O2, and wouldn’t do.’
Mr Khan has also faced backlash over accepting concert tickets after his attendance at a Taylor Swift concert at Wembley stadium last year.
He was pictured unveiling ‘Swiftie Steps’ and new murals at Wembley Park last June ahead of the concerts.
He says that all gifts are declared on the City Hall register of interests and he regards such events as part of his job and ‘banging the drum’ for the London’s entertainment industry.
There is currently an ongoing investigation by the City Hall watchdog into whether Mr Kahn Sadiq ‘exercised an appropriate level of caution’ before accepting £3,000 worth of free tickets to one of the popstar’s gigs from a private firm that has been awarded City Hall contracts.