Sir Keir Starmer is in a "pressure" job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality if it is declared correctly, a cabinet minister has told Sky News.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said anyone who is a PM "spends pretty much every bit of their waking life working on it" and if they are able to do something important to them "I don't think that's a problem".
Politics Live: Conflict of interest fears as Sir Keir Starmer accepts thousands in gifts
It comes after Sky News' Westminster Accounts project revealed Sir Keir has received substantially more freebies than any other MP since becoming Labour leader.
Since December 2019, he received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality - a specific category in parliament's register of MPs' interests.
The Premier League is one of the biggest donors of hospitality, and Sir Keir - a renowned Arsenal fan - has received almost £40,000 in tickets overall since December 2019.
Mr Reynolds said: "I think anyone who's doing a job of the pressure, of the scale, of the importance that the prime minister does, spends pretty much every bit of their waking life working on it.
"And if they've got the chance for a little bit of time with family or something that's important to them, in this case lifelong support for a football team, I don't think that's a problem."
He added that people "would reasonably expect" prime ministers to sit in a director's box at a sporting event for security reasons.
Asked about accepting free tickets to concerts like Taylor Swift and Coldplay, he said: "These are major cultural, sporting events. I think it's important people in public life have some connection to that."
The business secretary went onto say that there are "clear rules" around accepting gifts and hospitality and he has "no objection to how the system works".
Read More:
See how many gifts your MP declares
Our guide to exploring the Westminster Accounts
He added that the government's controversial decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners should not be “conflated” with the prime minister accepting freebies.
He said the benefit cut was required because of the economic "blackhole" left behind by the Tories, adding: "I know Keir Starmer personally. I know how hard he works.
"If he's going to a football match or anything, to give himself a little bit of a wider life experience.. I don't have any objections to that as long as it's transparent.
"I think to conflate the two issues and forget the fact that there are major issues facing the UK that can only be addressed because we've got a change of government wouldn't be right."
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