Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour took the country by storm and it seems Swiftmania has also taken a firm hold of UK politicians. So much so that, barely a day into the return of parliament from recess, an early day motion was tabled to, er, hail the impact of ‘Swiftonomics’ in Britain. Crikey. You couldn’t make it up…
The rather curious entry on the parliament website came to Mr S’s attention after new Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon took it upon himself to heap praise on the ‘economic impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour’. The secret Swiftie has lauded the ‘estimated boost of nearly £1bn’ to the UK economy, gushing that:
The concept of Swiftonomics [is] a demonstration of how cultural events can drive significant economic activity across multiple sectors… The tour’s presence in cities such as London, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Cardiff has led to increased tourism, job creation and location business growth.
The rather bizarrely-named motion has so far received (some rather underwhelming) cross-party support, with Harrowgate and Knaresborough’s MP joined in his adulation of the American singer-songwriter by Labour’s Mary Kelly Foy and the DUP’s Jim Shannon. Talk about serious politics, eh?
But, of course, this is not quite the first time that UK politicians have fawned over the US songstress. There was that rather baffling show of adoration from Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon, who lodged a Holyrood motion to ‘congratulate Taylor Swift on being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023’. Then came the absurdity of Sir Ed Davey’s liberal lot, who called for the US singer to receive the ‘Freedom of the City of London‘ – after, the Lib Dems insisted, her shows filled a ‘blank space’ in the British economy. It was certainly a striking proposal: for her contribution to Britain’s tourism sector, the Lib Dems wanted to award Swift the, um, right to herd sheep across London Bridge without paying a toll. Quite the treat…
Not that this is the strangest musical motion put forward by Sir Ed Davey’s lot. Mark Wilkinson’s wildness for the Wiggles, as revealed by Steerpike earlier, takes the biscuit…
Comments