Salford City co-owner Gary Neville appeared in a fringe event at the Labour conference (Picture: Reuters)
Former Manchester United star Gary Neville has backed Keir Starmer in a row over his acceptance of free seats in hospitality for Arsenal matches.
The Prime Minister has come under fire for receiving more than £100,000 of gifts and donations since he became Labour leader in 2020.
Among the freebies were tickets from a number of Premier League teams and other organisations to watch Arsenal – the team Starmer has supported since childhood.
He has also been granted two seats in the corporate area of the club’s Emirates Stadium in north London, raising some eyebrows.
But Neville delivered an impassioned defence of him during an appearance alongside Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy at Labour’s party conference in Liverpool this morning.
He said: ‘I’m struggling with the free football tickets quite a bit, to be honest with you.
‘The absolute corruption we’ve seen over the past five, six, seven, eight years with people given billions of pounds’ worth of contracts in VIP lanes. People getting their houses done.
‘Keir Starmer paid for a season ticket to go with his family to watch Arsenal all his life.
‘He’s now being told he can’t go to that same seat, when I’m sure he’d want to. Everybody knows he would. He’s been told he has to go into a hospitality box.’
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in the stands for a match in Wolverhampton earlier this year (Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)
Neville continued: ‘He’s got this absolutely consistent history of paying for his tickets – now he’s the Prime Minister of this country, with the security detail around him.
‘I find it absolutely incredible that this level of attention is now being paid to a Labour Prime Minister, when I look at the absolute cronyism we watched for years under that lot. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.’
In an interview with BBC News last week, the PM said it would be ‘pretty self-indulgent’ to stay in the stands when it would cost the taxpayer more to provide him with security.
He said: ‘Frankly, I’d rather be in the stands, but I’m not going to ask the taxpayer to indulge me to be in the stands, when I could go and sit somewhere else.’
Starmer also found an unexpected ally on the issue in Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who told the BBC: ‘I don’t object for a minute for him going into a box at Arsenal.
‘Of course he can’t sit in the middle of the crowd. It is literally impossible for someone who is Prime Minister.’
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