Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy issued an apology for breaching a public appointments code by not disclosing that a candidate she chose to lead the football regulator had contributed to her leadership campaign. The Cabinet minister acknowledged her unintentional violation of the governance code in appointing David Kogan as chair of the Independent Football Regulator without revealing his donation to her campaign.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Nandy expressed regret for unknowingly violating the rules by failing to disclose Kogan’s £2,900 donation to her 2020 leadership bid to succeed Jeremy Corbyn. She emphasized that the breach was accidental and apologized for any potential negative perception it may have caused.
Responding to Nandy’s apology, the Prime Minister acknowledged that she had acted in good faith but pointed out that the process did not meet the expected standards. David Kogan, a media rights expert, was named as the government’s preferred candidate for chair of the Independent Football Regulator in April.
Following complaints and calls for an investigation into Kogan’s donations, Commissioner Sir William Shawcross found three breaches of the Governance Code on public appointments in the government’s appointment of Kogan. Apart from Nandy’s failure to disclose the donations, the potential conflict of interest and Kogan’s ties to the Labour Party were not adequately addressed during the selection process.
The commissioner noted that the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport should have publicly disclosed Kogan’s political contributions, amounting to £33,410 to the Labour Party and Labour candidates in the five years prior to his preferred candidacy announcement. Nandy welcomed the recognition that she was unaware of two donations and took immediate action to declare them and recuse herself from the appointment process upon learning about them.
The Prime Minister accepted that Nandy’s breach was unintentional and commended her integrity, while acknowledging the need for improvement in handling conflicts of interest. He emphasized that the report did not question Kogan’s suitability for the role of chair of the Independent Football Regulator.
