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In the 18 months since plans for an independent football regulator were first confirmed, the Premier League has provided gifts to MPs worth more than they did in the previous ten years put together, Byline Times can reveal.
The findings have sparked further “disbelief” over PM Keir Starmer appearing to dismiss conflict of interest claims.
Keir Starmer has sidestepped criticism over accepting £35,000 of free tickets from football clubs, suggesting it saves the taxpayer money on security. Safety concerns mean the Prime Minister can no longer watch games from the stands, he told the BBC.
The PM has been riding a wave of bad press for receiving more than £100,000 of freebies and gifts over the last parliament, something the Conservatives became infamous for during their time in power. Starmer has also accepted £32,000 worth of clothes from the Labour donor Lord Alli along with the use of two of his luxury flats.
But now Byline Times can reveal the full scale of Premier League lobbying of MPs, and how it’s been ramped up as a change of Government appeared likely.
Since entering government, Labour has reintroduced a bill to establish an independent football regulator (IFR), which the Premier League CEO Richard Masters has warned could risk “[undermining] the Premier League’s global success”.
A Byline Times analysis of 12 years of the Register of MPs’ Interests appears to show an acceleration of generosity from the Premier League since the Conservatives first announced plans for the IFR.
By 23 February 2023, when a White Paper with proposals to reform the sport’s governance was published, the Premier League had given MPs tickets and hospitality to the value of £47,089 since February 2013.
Since that date, MPs have declared £47,736 worth (£647 more) of gifts from the Premier League, £31,855 of which has been to Labour MPs.
On the same evening as the White Paper’s publication, Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds, who recently told Times Radio accepting hospitality was “not a perk of the job, it’s part of the job” attended Manchester United vs Barcelona with £1,000 worth of tickets and hospitality paid for by the Premier League.
Since then, Starmer has been the largest beneficiary of gifts from the Premier League, accepting five tickets to Arsenal vs Porto and four tickets to Taylor Swift, worth £7,000.
Analysis of the nature of gifts declared also shows an increasing shift from just football towards wider sports and entertainment hospitality tickets in the wake of the White Paper. This includes 14 of the 28 Taylor Swift tickets for which many Labour MPs have come under fire for taking. It also includes five Labour MPs, including senior figures Liz Kendall and Pat McFadden, being given hospitality passes to attend this year’s Brit Awards, worth £8,500.
Peter Geoghegan, author of Democracy for Sale told Byline Times “The Premier League has been a vocal lobbyist against a football regulator” making it “all the more inappropriate that members of what is now the party of Government have accepted so many free gifts from them.
The conflicts of interest here are so apparent that it’s mystifying that Starmer and his colleagues seem incapable of seeing them
Peter Geoghegan, author Democracy for Sale
Responding to other reports of football sector freebies, Conservative MP, Ben Obese-Jecty, told The Guardian: “In light of this, the decisions [Keir Starmer] takes on football governance should receive ‘forensic’ scrutiny.”
Starmer, the newspaper noted, has also accepted free football tickets from businesses such as construction firm Mulalley and Co – a company subject to an adverse £8 million judgment to compensate for unsafe cladding after the Grenfell Tower disaster, something former Labour MP Emma Dent branded as “an insult”.
Over the weekend, Rosie Duffield resigned as a Labour MP, blaming Starmer’s “cruel and unnecessary” policies and the freebies row that is engulfing him and his party.
The Premier League’s hospitality has extended to the House of Lords, where they hosted a drinks reception in April at which CEO Masters suggested the previous bill was loosely written and warned an IFR could “choke-off” foreign investment in English football. The Government chief whip Lord Kennedy has also been a guest of the organisation or received tickets and hospitality from them for three events so far in 2024.
Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert, said he was unsurprised by the lobbying efforts uncovered by Byline Times as he believes that “despite the fact Richard Masters said they would accept the process, they have been feverishly trying to dismiss and deny anything positive to come from the potential of a fan-led review leading to the new legislation.”
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Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who has called the Bill a “top priority” has not declared any gifts or hospitality from the Premier League during her time as an MP.
But speaking at a Labour Fringe event at the party’s conference last week, she claimed the Government did not wish to be “heavy handed” in its approach to regulation.
At the same fringe event, ex-footballer Gary Neville branded the Premier League a “bully” suggesting “they think they can influence the regulator once the regulator’s introduced and they can get a better deal”.
The previous Government had warned the Premier League on several occasions that it must reach an agreement with the English Football League (EFL) on a new funding deal to help stabilise the lower leagues and wider football pyramid, or the new IFR would enforce a settlement. Talks between both organisations broke down in March as the Premier League walked away from the table and have not resumed.
“Whatever concessions it did give to the EFL under the Boris Johnson administration were withdrawn and there has been no progress made ever since,” explains Maguire.
There’s a lack of trust between the football authorities and this is an unintended consequence of the Premier League itself being a breakaway product and looking after the interests of 20 clubs rather than the broader football landscape
Kieran Maguire, football finance expert
Keir Starmer has strongly supported plans for an independent regulator, despite warnings from Uefa that government interference in football could see England banned from European competitions. He has said he is willing to speak to Uefa about its concerns.
Labour’s general election manifesto stated that the party was “committed to making Britain the best place in the world to be a football fan” and a Football Supporters Association spokesperson said they “expect to see the new Football Governance Bill tabled soon and, with it, increased protections for clubs, improved supporter engagement, and a clause which will kill off any domestic club participation in a European Super League”.
Labour has announced it will tighten transparency rules with MPs having to declare hospitality and gifts they receive linked to their government jobs. At present, such donations are published up to six months in arrears and do not include the value of the donation.
The Premier League is yet to respond to a request for comment.