A fresh cronyism row erupted last night after a Labour think-tank director was given a top job in the heart of Whitehall.
Jess Sargeant has spent the past year as Director of Constitutional Change at Labour Together, which has close links to Sir Keir Starmer and his allies.
But it emerged on Tuesday that in recent weeks she has been quietly appointed Deputy Director of the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group, which is responsible for ‘ensuring the highest standards of propriety and ethics across all government departments’.
Sources insisted Ms Sargeant, who previously worked for the Institute for Government, had been hired on a fixed-term contract because of her expertise in constitutional reform and would not be involved in any work on ethics or ministerial investigations in the unit, which is where the Prime Minister’s powerful Chief of Staff Sue Gray once worked.
However news of her appointment comes shortly after two people linked to Labour donations were given senior jobs within Government.
Former banker Ian Corfield, who gave £20,000 to MPs over the past decade, was made Director of Investment in HM Treasury while Emily Middleton was made a Director General in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology under Peter Kyle after her firm Public First gave him more than £65,000 in opposition.
Last night Shadow Paymaster General John Glen said: ‘There is now overwhelming evidence that the Labour Government is undermining the integrity and impartiality of the Civil Service.
‘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.
‘This goes to the heart of Whitehall – from Sue Gray, right across to the division in charge of propriety and ethics.’
Tory Cabinet minister and Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said: ‘It would be a truly shocking, amazing appointment, and would destroy what confidence there remains in PET [the former name of the Propriety and Constitution Group].
‘Remember, Ministers are not allowed to see the papers of a previous government. The same does not apply to (in this case) so-called civil servants.’
Ex Cabinet Office adviser Henry Newman said: ‘A recent Labour staffer joining the Propriety and Ethics directorate as a senior civil servant would be quite extraordinary.’
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individuals.’
However Whitehall sources confirmed Ms Sargeant’s appointment.