Treasury under scrutiny after Labour donor bags top civil service job

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.