Treasury Fail To Inform Watchdog Of Official’s Lab Donations

The man in charge of election fundraising for the Labour Party has been making recommendations for public appointments, according to people familiar with the matter, an arrangement that prompted party staff to raise concerns with top officials about the appearance of a conflict of interest.
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Public appointments, such as non-executive chairs of government departments, or the head of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the UK’s tax body, are meant to be chosen by an “open and transparent” public process, according to the Governance Code on Public Appointments. The posts are publicly advertised before being ultimately appointed by ministers, although the Institute for Government, an independent think tank, has previously warned that the system is “vulnerable to abuse.”
It’s unknown whom Alli has recommended for the list of potential appointees or whether any of his nominees have received positions.
Alli — a co-creator of the Survivor television franchise appointed to the House of Lords by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998 — has both helped Labour raise a record amount of funds and supported its politicians with his own money. He has provided tens of thousands of pounds to subsidize the offices of Labour officials while they were in opposition, including giving Starmer £16,200 for “work clothing” in April and allowing Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to use a New York apartment for a “personal holiday” around New Year’s Eve.
Earlier in August, Politico reported that the Treasury had failed to tell the civil service watchdog that former banker Ian Corfield donated more than £20,000 to Labour campaign accounts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, while submitting his name for a paid post. He has since moved to a ­temporary and unpaid advisory role helping to organize the government’s investment summit, media including the Times newspaper have reported.
The Conservative opposition has seized on the revelations to accuse Starmer of hypocrisy, after promising “no more VIP fast lanes, no more kickbacks for colleagues, no more revolving doors between government and the companies they regulate.” On Tuesday, former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt pressed Reeves in Parliament on whether she disclosed Corfield’s £5,000 donation to her last year before his appointment as a director.
“Why is cronyism wrong under the Conservatives, but acceptable under Labour?” Hunt asked. Reeves accused her predecessor of having a “brass neck” to question the ethics of another party. [..]