Keir Starmer faces calls for independent inquiry into Taylorgate

Keir Starmer is facing calls for an independent inquiry over the decision to grant ­Taylor Swift a police escort.

Fury grew last night as it emerged the US pop star was given taxpayer-funded protection after the Government's chief law officer was called in to put pressure on Scotland Yard.

Senior Tories demanded answers amid claims that ministers 'improperly interfered' in the decision, which has come to be dubbed 'Taylorgate'.

Sources said that Attorney General Lord Hermer, who is a close friend of the Prime Minister, was asked to intervene after the Met warned that granting the singer 'VVIP' protection would breach its long-standing protocols.

It was only after this intervention that senior officers reversed their original decision and granted a level of security normally reserved for royalty and top-level politicians, according to sources.

Downing Street and Scotland Yard have refused to answer questions about who asked the Attorney General to wade in on the unprecedented move.

Last night Boris Johnson said: 'Why on earth is the Attorney General interfering with an operational decision of the Met about a blue-light escort? What point of law can conceivably be at stake? We need to be told or else we must conclude the obvious: Hermer is Starmer's stooge and sponsor and he was just doing his buddy's bidding.'

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Last week it emerged that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged the Met to give the star special protection for two of her Eras tour concerts in August.

Mr Khan and Ms Cooper received free tickets to Ms Swift's concerts, but both say this was wholly unrelated to the decision.

Sir Keir also received free tickets to the show, where he was pictured hugging his wife Victoria.

It was the first time the service, provided by the Met's Special Escort Group of motorcyclists (SEG), had been granted to a pop star. Police are supposed to operate without political interference, with decisions on who gets protection being made by the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec). Last night media lawyer Mark Stephens said the decision to grant a pop star police protection may help Prince Harry argue his case against the Home Office. The Duke of Sussex is waging a legal battle after he was stripped of police protection when he stood down as a working royal.

Mr Stephens said: 'It's likely that Harry's lawyers will be looking closely at the threat assessment in the Taylor Swift case in order to agree conditions for protection for him and his family.'

Former policing minister Chris Philp suggested yesterday that a 'red line' had been crossed.

The Conservative MP told the Mail: 'Ministers appear to have improperly interfered with the police's operational independence. This merits an immediate independent inquiry.

'Labour must come clean about who authorised the Attorney General's involvement.'

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The Met never discusses security arrangements, but it is understood that officers' initial assessment was that there was no specific threat to Ms Swift in the UK. However the Home Secretary and Mayor are said to have intervened after the star's mother and manager, Andrea, threatened to cancel the singer's London shows in August. It came days after Ms Swift cancelled her concerts in Austria following a foiled suicide-bomb plot.

The Attorney General was consulted for his advice in the talks, which also included Sue Gray when she was the PM's chief of staff. The contents of his letter are unclear, but it is understood he provided the Met with the necessary 'legal cover' to issue the blue-light escort. It was only after his intervention that the Met relented, sources said.

London Assembly member Susan Hall, who finished second in the London mayoral election, said yesterday: 'I'm astonished to be honest with you.

'I know there was a threat in Vienna and that's why [Ms Swift's] mother wanted it, but to have that kind of protection for a pop star is ludicrous. It's not a security service for hire, as Prince Harry has found out.

'What on earth happened? The public deserve to know.'

Downing Street has denied any suggestion that the discussions were linked to ministers attending concerts and last night said it would not comment on the work of the Attorney General.

But a spokesman for Lord Hermer also deflected, saying it was 'solely an operational decision for the police'.

A Met Police spokesman said the force was 'operationally independent' and that its decisions were based 'on a thorough assessment of threat, risk and harm.