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All rules have been followed in the appointment of a Labour Party donor to a senior Treasury role, a government minister has insisted. <\/p>\n
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme that appointing Ian Corfield as director of investment at the Treasury was “perfectly appropriate” and “it’s good to bring in external expertise”.<\/p>\n
The Conservatives have called it “hypocrisy off the scale” from Labour.<\/p>\n
They have also pointed to the appointment of Jess Sargeant, who previously worked for think tank Labour Together, to a senior role in the Cabinet Office as further evidence the government is undermining civil service impartiality. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ms Sargeant has been made a deputy director in the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group (PCG). <\/p>\n
Tory shadow Cabinet Office minister John Glen accused the government of “an abuse of taxpayers\u2019 money” and putting “the fundamental and enduring impartiality of our civil service” at risk. <\/p>\n
In opposition, Labour often accused the Conservatives of “cronyism” in appointing political allies to public bodies.<\/p>\n
Mr Corfield, a former banker who has donated a total of \u00a320,000 to Labour MPs including \u00a35,000 to now-Chancellor Rachel Reeves in 2023, was brought in to help deliver an international investment summit in October.<\/p>\n
He is understood to be on a fixed-term contract for what a source described as a “very limited” period of time.<\/p>\n
Asked whether it was acceptable to give civil service posts to Labour donors, Mr Jones told the BBC<\/a> appointments were “always made based on skillsets and need, and in line with the rules, and that’s how this has worked in this particular set of circumstances”.<\/p>\n He added: “There’s no suggestion that any rules have been broken because they haven’t.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n It was “understandable” the Conservatives wanted to make a “political issue of it”, but it was “perfectly appropriate within the rules to appoint people, for example in Mr Corfield’s circumstances, for a fixed period of time to deliver a fixed outcome, by bringing in the skills that were needed and were not currently available in the Treasury”, he said. <\/p>\n Asked if he was happy with how the situation looked, Mr Jones said: “Even from an optics perspective, I am comfortable with it because all of the rules have been followed.<\/p>\n “It’s good to bring in external expertise into the civil service to deliver on our priorities and it’s good to bring in that challenge, that different set of experience, especially from the private sector.” <\/p>\n There are no rules automatically preventing someone being appointed to a civil service role because of a political donation, but candidates are told they must understand the requirement to act impartially if appointed. <\/p>\n