Does Labour have a cronyism problem?

Labour is facing allegations of cronyism after appointing several of its backers to prominent civil service roles.

Ian Corfield, a former banker who has donated over £20,000 to Labour politicians, including £5,000 to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, was appointed to a Treasury post after the Civil Service Commission approved an “exception” to the usual requirement of fair and open competition for the role. But the regulator “was reportedly not told of his financial contributions to the party”, said The Times. Corfield has now stepped down and become a temporary, unpaid Treasury adviser.

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To say so is “not to question the professional credentials” of Ian Corfield or the other Labour backers appointed to roles, and indeed, “this newspaper has long argued that the civil service – too often bloated and sclerotic – would benefit from more external expertise”. However, for Starmer, who has long criticised the “degradation of standards in public life” and blamed Conservatives for the decline in public trust, “the real problem is the means, not the ends.” None of these controversial appointments were subject to open recruitment processes; instead, they were “imposed on departments by fiat.” While Labour ministers should argue for a system that allows them to appoint trusted expert advisers, voters deserve more than a “chumocracy by stealth”.

Indeed it “undermines the principle of merit – core to an impartial civil service – if ministers appear to freely give jobs to political allies without fair and open competition”, argued the Institute for Government. “The exceptions process should be just that – exceptional,” rather than “a back door for political appointments”. An impartial civil service “is an asset to ministers and the country,” and bypassing recruitment practices designed to ensure merit-based appointments “is a mistake”.

“What is more striking is that many in the party seem surprised, and in some cases slightly offended, that these appointments and decisions are facing even light criticism,” said Katy Balls in The Spectator. Speaking on Times Radio, the former Labour MP Harriet Harman played down issues over Corfield’s donations, saying that the sum “probably seems like a small amount of money for him but for everybody else that seems like a lot of money”. It’s “hard to see Harman making that defence had it been a Tory donor being given an appointment”, said Balls.

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