JANET Anderson, the Rossendale and Darwen MP and Minister for Pop - a portfolio without which the country would surely grind to a halt - insists there was nothing untoward in her being given 12 free tickets to allow her daughter to have her 18th birthday bash in a top London nightclub.

Mrs Anderson says the offer came from bosses of a record company and denies she sought special treatment as a government minister.

There was nothing wrong with the arrangement, she states, and the Parliamentary Registrar of Interests had advised her she had no need to register the gift, having, it is understood, said they were of no personal benefit to her. Apart from saving her the few quid it would have cost her if she had had to fork out for the tickets herself, I am sure they were not. To whom, then, if anyone at all, might this gift have been of benefit - a record industry seeking helpful relations with a minister whose business is their business, perhaps?

Surely not.

The test of this matter, I think, is how many other mothers of 18-year-olds are given a dozen free admissions to top nightclubs for no reason.

Perhaps Mrs Anderson will let us know how often this occurs.

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