Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has apologised to Keir Starmer after an inquiry found she failed to say that her choice of nominee to lead a new football regulator had donated to her and to Labour before she nominated him for the role.
Nandy said she regretted the errors highlighted in a report by William Shawcross, the commissioner for public appointments. Her apology comes a week after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, made her own written apology to the prime minister for failing to obtain a licence before renting out her family home.
In a letter to Nandy, Starmer said he accepted the apology, but noted that the process to appoint the media executive David Kogan “was not entirely up to the standard expected” and said her department could learn lessons from it.
The reprimand does not affect the role of Kogan, whose long career in sport and media has included negotiating TV rights deals for the Premier League and the English Football League.
He was confirmed last month as the head of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), a fan-friendly watchdog proposed by the Conservative government after plans for the briefly mooted European Super League collapsed, and brought into existence under Labour.
After the conflict of interest emerged, Nandy stood aside from any role in deciding whether Kogan would be given the role.
It is nonetheless another embarrassment for Starmer’s government, particularly so soon after it emerged that Reeves had not obtained the council licence needed to let her family home after she moved into Downing Street following the election.
In his 18-page report, Shawcross said Nandy or her department had breached the governance code on public appointments in three ways: Nandy by not immediately declaring that Kogan had donated twice to her unsuccessful 2020 campaign to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader; and the culture department by not discussing this when she interviewed him for the role and not declaring Kogan’s larger donations to Labour, including to Starmer’s leadership campaign.
Nandy said she did not know at the time that Kogan had even donated to hers. However, Shawcross said in the report that given Kogan’s known links to Labour, Nandy “ought to have considered and ascertained whether he had made donations to her”.
The report said Nandy and other ministers should be “reminded of their duties to declare and resolve any interests and relationships which they have with a candidate participating in a campaign regulated by the governance code”, recommending that the Cabinet Office and Shawcross work together to avoid a similar situation happening again.
Nandy, in her letter to Starmer, said she had taken “robust steps” to check her register of donations before the process of nominating Kogan began, but accepted the report’s findings, saying: “I deeply regret this error. I appreciate the perception it could create, but it was not deliberate and I apologise for it.”
In response, Starmer said he accepted an error was inadvertent, adding: “I know you to be a person of integrity and on the basis of your letter, it is clear you have acted in good faith. The commissioner acknowledges that you acted swiftly to step back from the appointment when you became aware of the perception of a conflict of interest.
“Nonetheless, the process followed was not entirely up to the standard expected and I welcome your department’s willingness to cooperate with the commissioner and the Cabinet Office to learn lessons and to improve the guidance on handling conflicts of interests.”
Kogan said he had never been “aware of any deviation from best practice” in the appointment process.
Responding to the findings of the commissioner for public appointments, he said: “I have cooperated fully throughout the investigation and can now draw a line under the process.
“As the commissioner states, my suitability for the role has never been in question and at no point was I aware of any deviation from best practice.
“It is now time to move on and get on with the business of setting up the IFR so we can tackle the critical and urgent issues facing football.”
