Scotland Yard feared providing Taylor Swift with enhanced VIP security would open the floodgates to other celebrities demanding the same treatment, sources have told The Telegraph.

       Senior Met officers expressed concern that giving the singer a royal-style police escort when she performed in London in the summer would lead to similar demands from other famous international visitors.

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       The disclosure came as it emerged a seventh Cabinet minister accepted free tickets to Ms Swift’s shows.

       Meanwhile, the Prime Minister faced fresh embarrassment as a Labour peer said that accepting hospitality and gifts should be made a criminal offence.

       Lord Sikka, an anti-corruption campaigner, argued the “most effective antidote” would be to ban the practice of those in power receiving handouts.

       It is understood the Met made an initial security assessment which concluded there was no requirement for Swift to receive a blue light escort.

       However, following pressure from Swift’s management team including her mother, and amid threats to call off the shows, senior Government figures asked Scotland Yard to reconsider.

       Sources said the Met was deeply concerned that providing such a high level of security when no specific threat had been identified would set a “worrying precedent” and lead to similar demands from other celebrities.

       The Met relented eventually after asking Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, for legal advice on whether it could break with normal protocol.

       Meanwhile, Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, declared he had received two Taylor Swift tickets worth ￡584 in total, according to new parliamentary records published on Wednesday.

       His declaration means more than a quarter of Sir Keir Starmer’s top team have now registered as having enjoyed free hospitality for the singer’s UK tour.

       It came as Downing Street stood in the way of an investigation into whether ministers broke conflict of interest rules over the pop star’s security.

       Sir Keir Starmer will not ask Sir Laurie Magnus, his independent ethics adviser, to look into the claims, No 10 insisted on Wednesday.

       Asked whether Sir Keir would do so, his spokesman replied: “No, on the basis that the decisions taken by the police were operationally independent.

       “The Met Police have obviously said that it is ultimately up to them to determine their approach based on the assessment of threat and circumstances in each case.

       “You should expect the Government to have conversations with the police on events of this magnitude and scale, and for that to be entirely consistent with the Met being operationally independent.”

       Sir Laurie does not have the power to open investigations by himself, though he can ask the Prime Minister for permission to look into a potential rules breach.

       No 10 said that Sir Keir was still “committed” to a Labour manifesto pledge to grant the ethics adviser full powers to launch its own inquiries.

       Mr Kyle included the pair of tickets to a Swift concert on Aug 15, which were paid for by the FA, on his latest parliamentary register of interests.

       Other top Labour politicians were at the same show, including Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, and Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary.

       Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, and Lady Starmer, the Prime Minister’s wife, were also there on free tickets.

       Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, attended a show on August 16 and Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, went to one on Aug 20.

       Sir Keir himself received three sets of free tickets and attended two concerts – the first on June 21, before the election, and the second on Aug 20.

       So far, it has emerged that 15 Labour MPs accepted hospitality to the concerts.

       They include Liam Conlon, the son of Sue Gray, the former No 10 chief of staff, and Chris Ward, the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Private Secretary.

       The controversy over the decision to grant Swift a VIP security detail is mixed with wider concern at the scale of freebies accepted by Labour ministers.

       Downing Street has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into how the security decision was made.

       Ms Cooper, Mr Khan and Ms Gray are all said to have been involved in talks with the Met while the Attorney General provided legal advice.

       On Tuesday, it emerged that Sir Keir met Swift at the final show on Aug 20, after the decision to award the blue-light escort was made.

       The revelation prompted accusations, strongly denied by No 10, that the tickets and meeting had been a “thank you” for the extra protection.