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The UK’s Labour government faced fresh questions over appointments to the civil service after it chose a political figure for a senior role in the Cabinet Office’s “propriety and constitution group”, which is responsible for maintaining ethics across Whitehall.
Jess Sargeant, who previously worked at political campaign group Labour Together, has taken up a role inside the PCG, prompting criticism from the Conservative party that the new government is undermining the impartiality of the civil service.
The government said, however, that her role would be largely limited to House of Lords reform.
In recent weeks two individuals connected to donations made to the Labour party have been handed senior roles in the civil service.
John Glen, shadow paymaster general, said there was “overwhelming evidence” that the Labour government was harming the integrity of Whitehall.
“Everyone expects a new government to appoint political special advisers but parachuting in so many Labour staffers as civil servants without open and fair competition is not only an abuse of taxpayers’ money but also puts at risk the fundamental and enduring impartiality of our civil service.”
Henry Newman, a former Tory special adviser, described the appointment as “absolutely extraordinary” and unprecedented given that the PCG team was in charge of “policing” Whitehall’s rules. “They are literally the guardians who guard the guardians,” he said. “This is the Cabinet Office team which oversees the Civil Service Commission.”
The Cabinet Office said it did not comment on individual civil servants.
However, colleagues said Sargeant’s role within the group would be confined to constitutional matters, including reform of the House of Lords. Before working for Labour Together she was an expert at the Institute for Government, a highly respected and non-partisan think-tank specialising in constitutional issues.
There would also be “firewalls” to ensure Sargeant did not deal with any propriety casework, inquiries or investigations, according to one ally.
It previously emerged that former consultant Emily Middleton had been named a director-general in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology after she was seconded to the Labour party while it was in opposition.
The firm of which she was a partner, Public Digital, had offered secondments worth more than £65,000 to the team of Peter Kyle, the shadow technology secretary at the time.
Ian Corfield, a former financial services executive — who has donated more than £20,000 to senior Labour figures in the past decade, including a £5,000 contribution to Rachel Reeves, who is now the chancellor, last summer — has also been appointed as a director in the Treasury.
The Civil Service Commission, which approves appointments, said at the time it had no knowledge of donations made by Corfield when it reviewed the decision to appoint him.
The alleged connection between individuals who have given to the party and appointments to high-ranking civil service roles has led some to question Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to strengthening the ethics regime in government.
Starmer vowed to rid government of cronyism following a series of scandals that engulfed successive Conservative administrations.
