Former Cabinet Office minister John Glen has written to the Civil Service Commission to ask the watchdog to investigate several recent appointments to senior civil service roles.
Glen, now shadow paymaster general, has raised concerns about four appointments involving individuals who have worked or donated to the Labour Party.
This includes the appointment of Ian Corfield – who has donated £20,000 to the party over the past decade, including £5,000 to chancellor Rachel Reeves last year – as a director at the Treasury.
It also includes Emily Middleton, a newly appointed director general at the Department for Science and Technology who worked for current science secretary Peter Kyle’s office when Labour was in opposition. Middleton worked for Kyle on secondment from her then-employer Public Digital, where she was a partner, at no cost to the Labour politician as a “donation in kind” of £67,000 from the consultancy firm.
Glen’s letter also highlights the appointment of Oliver Newton, a former adviser to Reeves who has been recruited as head of business engagement at the Treasury.
And it similarly raises concern about the hire of Haydon Etherington, a former policy adviser to Angela Rayner who has been name as a senior policy adviser at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the department Rayner now leads.
Glen has asked for the Civil Service Commission to conduct “thorough investigation” to ensure the hires were made in line with the civil service code.
In the letter, seen by The Telegraph, Glen said: “I fear that these are not isolated cases, and risks a wider pattern of the politicisation of the civil service staffing and communications under this administration.”
Glen has also suggested that the hires have made by ministers in response to decisions made by Sue Gray, the former senior civil servant who is now Keir Starmer’s chief of staff.
He said: “It is the norm for political staff to be appointed in a new administration as special advisers, who are temporary civil servants. Special advisers can help prevent the politicisation of the wider civil service, by being exempt from the civil service code’s provisions on political impartiality.
“But I understand that the prime minister’s chief of staff has personally blocked a number of special adviser appointments. I am concerned that this may have led to ministers trying to circumvent the rules by appointing such political advisers as normal civil servants, which do not require 10 Downing Street’s approval.”
Glen added that it was “not clear” why other suitable candidates were not considered for the roles.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “These claims are untrue. There are clear rules governing recruitment and appointment of civil service roles which are regulated by the Civil Service Commission.”
“We do not comment on individual staffing matters,” they added.
The Civil Service Commission said it has received Glen’s letter and “will respond in due course”.
