Back to the Labour government, which is under scrutiny as more questions about party donor Ian Corfield’s new job arise. The banker has a history of donating hefty sums to Sir Keir’s lefty lot, with Electoral Commission records showing Corfield gave more than £20,000 to Labour politicians (including now-Chancellor Rachel Reeves) over the last nine years. Just last month, the Labour donor landed a job as a director of investment at the Treasury – and now it has emerged that the civil service watchdog was not informed of his donation history when it approved Corfield’s appointment. How curious…
While most civil service jobs are filled through ‘fair and open competition’, departments are able to apply for exemptions for senior roles as long as the Civil Service Commission approves them. As revealed by Politico, two insiders confirmed that the regulator was not informed of Corfield’s rather generous donation history in advance of its own decision. Meanwhile, Civil Service Commission chief Kate Owen claimed that government departments are responsible for vetting candidates, with the regulator’s spokesperson agreeing that ‘due diligence on candidates is a matter for the employing department’ – which, in this case, would be the Treasury. Yet, rather interestingly, the Treasury refused to say whether Corfield’s donations were indeed declared.
‘Any appointments are made in line with the civil service rules on recruitment,’ a government spokesperson said – but this hasn’t stopped the criticism from rolling in. An Institute for Government researcher, Jack Worlidge, claims the case ‘exposes clear gaps in the rules’, adding that ‘it will be interesting to see if the new Ethics and Integrity Commission closes some of those’. Meanwhile former Tory SpAd Henry Newman took to Twitter to fume: ‘Can you imagine the outrage if a Conservative PM had appointed a donor to the civil service?’ Rules for thee, but not for me…
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