Letter of the week: When the fog descends newstatesman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newstatesman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Demand grows to overhaul appointments following Matt Hancock’s hiring of his lover Gina Coladangelo
Matt Hancock leaving Downing Street with Gina Coladangelo in May; the health secretary resigned after their affair became public. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Matt Hancock leaving Downing Street with Gina Coladangelo in May; the health secretary resigned after their affair became public. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Sun 18 Jul 2021 02.45 EDT
A fifth of Whitehall’s non-executive directors appointed to oversee the work of government departments have “significant political experience or party alignment”, according to new evidence that ministers are using the posts to bolster their own support.
To save the union, a new constitutional settlement is needed | Letters theguardian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theguardian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last modified on Tue 29 Jun 2021 06.53 EDT
Ministers are facing demands to re-examine 85 oversight jobs across Whitehall amid questions over Conservative government appointments to the health department.
Concerns were raised after it emerged that Matt Hancock had appointed Gina Coladangelo, whom he was pictured kissing in his office in May, as a non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last year. She was paid £15,000 for 15 days’ work a year in a role that included scrutinising his performance as a minister.
Non-executive directors (Neds) exist to “challenge” the government and provide independent scrutiny while bringing private-sector experience to departmental boards. In some cases, ministers have been accused of abusing their positions to bring in Tory donors, peers and MPs to sit in important governance positions.
Hancock affair prompts call for crackdown on departmental non execs civilserviceworld.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from civilserviceworld.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.