Back to the curious case of Ian Corfield. Revelations emerged this morning that the civil service watchdog was not informed of the banker’s donation history to Labour before it approved his selection to a top civil servant job in the Treasury. As Politico reported, the Civil Service Commission chief Kate Owen stated that government departments are responsible for vetting candidates, but the Treasury refused to say whether Corfield’s donations – of over £20,000 in the past nine years – were indeed declared. And now it appears the Tories have started sniffing around the Labour donor’s appointment.
It now transpires that Laura Trott, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury under the Conservatives, wrote to the department’s permanent secretary on Tuesday night in search of more answers about the choice for the director of investment gig. As set out by the Daily Express, Trott has put nine questions towards the Treasury and Chancellor Rachel Reeves – who herself accepted £5,000 from the Labour donor in August 2023. Amongst other things, Trott quizzed the new Chancellor and her department about when the Civil Service Commission became aware of Corfield’s donations, the responsibilities the Labour donor will have and whether ‘any other Labour donors [have] been appointed to civil service positions’ in the department. The Treasury must ‘come clean’, Trott fumed to the newspaper. Crikey.
The government insists that ‘any appointments are made in line with the civil service rules on recruitment’ – but that certainly hasn’t put a stop to growing scrutiny of the issue. Sir Keir Starmer gave a speech in January this year pledging a ‘total crackdown on cronyism’ – but this latest series of revelations will hardly convince his opponents that sleaze isn’t making a comeback. Will the Treasury’s response clear up the rather curious saga? Stay tuned…
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