“SIR Keir Starmer has been dragged into a cronyism row after admitting he approved a top job for one of his donors. The Prime Minister last night expressed his “sincere regret” over the incident in the appointment of the football regulator chairman David Kogan. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! Sir Keir Starmer”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
SIR Keir Starmer has been dragged into a cronyism row after admitting he approved a top job for one of his donors.
The Prime Minister last night expressed his “sincere regret” over the incident in the appointment of the football regulator chairman David Kogan.
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Sir Keir Starmer has been dragged into a cronyism rowCredit: Getty The shock revelation comes just days after Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was forced to apologise for breaking rules in also failing to declare donations from him.
Starmer signed off on the position for Kogan having earlier said he would recuse himself from matters around new football governance laws.
Both the PM and Nandy received cash from Kogan for their 2020 leadership campaigns which he only declared after being picked as the government’s candidate for the football role.
But the PM received an internal Whitehall note telling him Kogan would be the first football regulator which he confirmed he supported.
But it comes after Starmer agreed with sleaze watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus that he would step aside from such decisions to guard against any “perception of conflict”.
He said: “The note asked me whether I was content. I confirmed that I was supportive.
“I knew that the decision was for the Secretary of State to take and I replied on the basis that the decision had been taken.
“In retrospect, it would have been better if I had not been given the note or confirmed that I was content with the appointment. This was an unfortunate error for which I express my sincere regret.”
Starmer had already spoken to the sleaze watchdog over two donations made by Kogan.
The first related to his bid to be Labour leader in 2020 and then his constituency party received a donation around the time of the last election.
Kogan made two separate donations of £1,450 to Nandy when she was running to be Labour leader in 2020.
Nandy said: “We didn’t meet the highest standards – that is on me.”
Sir Keir Starmer rapped her for falling short of the “standard expected” from senior ministers – but let her off the hook.
It is the second time the PM has been forced to reprimand one of his top team over ethics following Rachel Reeves’ unlawful renting scandal.
Mr Kogan will still be allowed to take up the role as boss of the incoming football regulator despite three breaches of the Governance Code.
The first was Ms Nandy’s failure to disclose the two donations he had made to her 2020 leadership bid.
Despite her claims not to have known about the money, ethics commissioner Sir William Shawcross said Mr Kogan’s long-standing Labour ties means she should have checked.
Ms Nandy previously said: “I deeply regret this error. I appreciate the perception it could create, but it was not deliberate and I apologise for it.”
Another breach was the department failing to discuss this possible conflict of interest with Mr Kogan in his interview.