Dear Editor,
I am sure many will remember the Labour Government granting Formula One an exemption from tobacco advertising in 1997 after Bernie Eccleston donated £1 million to the Labour Party, but few would believe that under Sir Keir Starmer’s self-proclaimed ‘government of service’, shady dealings would disappear so quickly.
However, an article published in Politico on August 14 exposes the corruption that lies in the fact that a banker was appointed senior director of investments at the UK Treasury, a post normally reserved for civil servants, without an open competition. The corruption is compounded by the fact that the UK Treasury failed to disclose the £20,000 in donations made by former banker Ian Corfield to Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, which helped him get the job.
The Politico article rightly points out that filling senior positions without an open selection is not uncommon, but requires a special permit from the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to hire candidates with external skills not found among civil servants, such as staff hired for the Covid-19 test-and-trace programme.
Politico sources say: “Corfield’s appointment was approved by the commission under those rules, but two people familiar with the process, who were granted anonymity to discuss matters they were not authorized to disclose publicly, confirmed to POLITICO that the regulator was not informed of his past donations before making its decision.”
Filling a position as senior as that of Director of Investments at the UK Treasury requires careful consideration and, as the CSC spokesperson explained, is “a matter for the appointing ministry”.
The Treasury Department would not confirm whether the donations were declared to James Bowler, the department’s most senior official responsible for accuracy.
The highly respected think tank Institute for Government made its concerns clear. Jack Worlidge, one of its senior researchers, said the case “exposes clear gaps in the rules”.
Worlidge added: “During the election campaign, Labour has repeatedly stressed its credibility on decency and ethics. It will be interesting to see whether the new Ethics and Integrity Commission fills some of these gaps.”
Interestingly, the CSC states in its recruitment policy that government departments “must report on the use of exemptions in the annual compliance statement and that the use of these exemptions may be subject to audit.” I am sure that the opposition parties are eagerly awaiting this compliance statement.
