CULTURE Secretary Lisa Nandy was tonight scolded over appointing one of her donors as chair of the new football regulator.
An ethics probe found she had breached the governance code by failing to declare David Kogan had given £2,900 to her failed party leadership campaign.
Sir Keir Starmer last night rapped her for falling short of the “standard expected” from senior ministers – but let her off the hook.
It is the second time in as many weeks the PM has been forced to reprimand one of his top team over ethics following Rachel Reeves’ unlawful renting scandal.
Mr Kogan will still be allowed to take up the role as boss of the incoming football regulator despite three breaches of the Governance Code.
The first was Ms Nandy’s failure to disclose the two donations he had made to her 2020 leadership bid.
Despite her claims not to have known about the money, ethics commissioner Sir William Shawcross said Mr Kogan’s long-standing Labour ties means she should have checked.
Ms Nandy said last night: “I deeply regret this error. I appreciate the perception it could create, but it was not deliberate and I apologise for it.”
Another breach was the department failing to discuss this possible conflict of interest with Mr Kogan in his interview.
And a third was that the Culture department failed to disclose Mr Kogan’s historic links to the Labour party, to which he has donated £33,410.