The temptation for political leaders is to steal a little stardust and show they share the public’s tastes. This catch is that cultural icons have opinions of their own and are unlikely to be marching in step with any politician for long.
Most people see nothing wrong with going to a Taylor Swift concert, or taking your family along with you.
Of course, who pays for the outing matters. Sir Keir Starmer has now covered the cost of the free tickets he got from the FA, the landlords of Wembley, where Swift’s gigs took place.
Yet, in spite of all the important things going on in the world, the new government is still squirming over Freebiegate.
Labour made its problem worse because its senior members are sheepish about having gone to the concert at all.
Those who have children, including Sir Keir, were quick to reach for the “we did it for the kids” excuse.
Every detail had to be dragged out by media scrutiny. It’s not just the tickets.
Next we learnt that senior ministers talked to the police about providing a blue light security for Swift.
Then it turned out the Starmer family had enjoyed a meeting with the star of the show, an opportunity not on offer to the thousands of other Swifties in attendance, even though she does her best to meet her fans.
Again, fair enough. Even if it broke protocol many would not quibble with granting an escort to one of the biggest entertainers in the world, back for her second string of performances in London, after cancelling her appearances in Austria because of a credible terrorist threat to her life – and not forgetting what happened at the Manchester Arena.
The smell starts if denials are followed by qualified admissions as to whom talked to whom and who – including the home secretary – went to Wembley.
No crime
Similarly, good luck to prime ministers’ children. They deserve some perks along with all the pressures.
Except that this prime minister has ordered that his cannot be named and has put them off limits completely – except when it comes to tickets to Arsenal and grip and grins with Swift at Wembley.
No criminal offence has been committed. Sir Keir, the former top lawyer, is discovering that being within the letter of the law is not enough. Greater circumspection is expected of a prime minister, especially one who has been so ready to call others to account.
Cultural icons have opinions of their own
There is another rule of thumb the prime minister should take on board: politics and pop do not mix well. The temptation is to steal a little stardust and show they share the public’s tastes.
This catch is that cultural icons have opinions of their own and are unlikely to be marching in step with any politician for long.
Take Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a known lover of popular tunes.
Last Monday he gave up midway through a stuffy “townhall” rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania, when a number of people in the crowd fainted.
“Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music,” the candidate declared, staying on stage wordless for another 38 minutes, swaying to the beat of his playlist.
Unsympathetic commentators reached for words including “bewildering”, “weird” and “bizarre” to describe the event, sniggering that the lyrics included “Time to say goodbye”.
US vice president Kamala Harris joined in with a so-called “shade tweet”: “Hope he’s okay.”
Privately, Mr Trump’s allies suggested their erratic candidate’s best chance of winning in the upcoming election on 5 November is to say as little as possible between now and then.
Musical rebuffs
As much of his audience headed for the exits, Mr Trump’s “musical fest” included several versions of Ave Maria, Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U, The Village People’s YMCA, James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World, Oliver Anthony’s Rich Men North Of Richmond, Elvis Presley’s An American Trilogy, November Rain by Guns N’ Roses, Memory from Cats and Rufus Wainwright III’s version of Hallelujah.
The recording artists were not amused. In a lengthy post, Wainwright accused Mr Trump of “the height of blasphemy” for appropriating Leonard Cohen’s “ode to tolerance”, adding that the Cohen estate was sending “a cease and desist order… And needless to say: I am all in for Kamala”.
This is just the latest of the many musical rebuffs Mr Trump has shrugged off.
O’Connor’s estate called for an end to the use of Nothing Compares 2 U, Dave Grohl demanded a stop to the use of Foo Fighters’ My Hero, Celine Dion’s record company objected to the candidate playing My Heart Will Go On.
Some big stars have managed to stop Mr Trump using their music. He dropped Sam and Dave’s Hold On, I’m Coming after the family of Isaac Hayes threatened a copyright suit.
In 2020 leading artists formed the Artist Rights Alliance which appealed to Republicans and Democrats not to co-opt their music.
The Rolling Stones joined up and threatened to sue Mr Trump for using You Can’t Always Get What You Want – although this came years after it was a regular feature of his successful 2016 campaign.
Mick Jagger also complained that former German chancellor Angela Merkel had adopted Angie without permission.
“If they want to use something like that in a political context, they should ask. I think that’s fair enough,” Jagger remarked languidly before suggesting that Start Me Up! might be better suited to the Bundeskanzler.
Mr Trump loves Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals above all. White House aides reportedly employed a “a music man” to put on Memory or The Music Of The Night to calm his tantrums.
During the 2020 campaign Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group is believed to have sent Mr Trump a cease-and-desist using Memory from Cats.
Back then, Betty Buckley, who recorded the song as Grizabella in the original 1982 Broadway production, tweeted: “Excellent news!!” when she heard the president liked her song.
This year she has changed her tune tweeting: “Yup. Awful”, to news that she had been heard at this week’s town hall.
In the UK and the US politicians on the right are most likely to come under attack from the musicians whose music they borrow.
M People were “livid” after former Tory prime minister Liz Truss favoured Moving On Up.
Friendly Fires bashed former prime minister Boris Johnson over Blue Cassette.
Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine complained about You’ve Got The Love allegedly being used without approval during the Conservative Party conference back in 2017.
Former prime minister David Cameron likes his music and was a serial offender. Keane were “horrified” he used Everybody Is Changing.
Primal Scream “totally disgusted” over Rocks. The low-key Johnny Marr issued a straightforward fatwah: “Stop saying you like The Smiths!”
Sunset Boulevard
In the US, Republicans Reagan, McCain, the Bushes and Mr Trump have been serial antagonists of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp over their adoption of Born In The USA and Rock In The USA.
‘It was right’ to repay gifts
The Conservative peer Andrew Lloyd Webber seems to be mellowing, perhaps because he is appealing to the new government to support the arts, including live theatre.
In a letter to The Times, he came out in support of Sir Keir, dismissing the “ludicrous” saga over free tickets.
“If I hadn’t invited Margaret Thatcher to the London opening of Sunset Boulevard she’d never have said as she left the theatre: ‘I am big – it’s the politics that got small’.”
Sir Keir professes to being a keen Swiftie. I doubt Lady Thatcher had heard of Norma Desmond or Gloria Swanson until Lloyd Webber coaxed her out that evening.
She did not try to court the stars but the Spice Girls still claimed she was their inspiration for girl power.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump praised his own impromptu disco this week.
“So different, but it ended up being a GREAT EVENING!”, he assured his followers on Truth Social.
