Inquiry launched into appointment of football regulator chairman
But the revelation that he had donated money to both Sir Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy – as well as other Labour figures – drew complaints from the Conservatives and calls for the commissioner for public appointments to investigate.
In a letter to the permanent secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, commissioner Sir William Shawcross said he had carried out a series of 'spot checks' and now believed a full inquiry into Mr Kogan's appointment was 'necessary'.
Sir William's inquiry will look into whether the rules on public appointments were followed, and is likely to involve interviews with both Mr Kogan and Ms Nandy.
Mr Kogan was originally approached about the football regulator job by the Conservatives while they were still in office, and has advised the Premier League, EFL and other leagues on broadcast rights.
He has also donated thousands of pounds to Labour MPs and candidates in recent years, and sat on the board of Labour news website LabourList.
During his pre-appointment hearing with the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee – which later backed his appointment – he revealed he had also donated 'very small sums' to Sir Keir and Ms Nandy's leadership campaigns in 2020.
Those donations had not previously been revealed as they were below the threshold for public declaration.
A week later, Ms Nandy wrote to the committee to inform MPs that she had stepped back from making the final decision on whether to appoint Mr Kogan, delegating the choice to sport minister Stephanie Peacock.
Stuart Andrew, the Conservative shadow culture secretary, said Mr Kogan's appointment 'bears all the hallmarks of yet more Labour cronyism', adding Ms Nandy's decision to step back 'highlights just how compromised this selection has become'.
He said: 'Number 10 must now come clean about the involvement of the Downing Street appointments unit and special advisers in promoting David Kogan as the preferred candidate.
'The public has a right to know whether this was a fair and impartial process, or yet another case of political patronage disguised as due diligence.'
Mr Kogan did not comment on the launch of the inquiry.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
16 minutes ago
- Times
How much one year of Labour has cost you
The Labour Party won the general election a year ago in a landslide victory after promising to restore economic stability, kick-start growth and keep taxes on workers as low as Keir Starmer had also pledged to reduce energy and food bills, and raise living standards. However, after a revolt over welfare reforms forced a fiscal U-turn this week, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, now faces having to find another £5 billion to plug the black hole in the nation's finances. Economists are predicting tax rises in the autumn budget, and restrictions on the amount that you can save tax-free into a cash Isa are also said to be on the cards. So, after 365 days, are you better off under this government — and are your fortunes likely to improve over the next four years? Here's what you need to know. Labour's economic plan was built around growth. 'Sustained economic growth is the only route to improving the prosperity of our country and the living standards of working people,' the party manifesto said. But in March the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) cut its growth forecast for 2025 in half. The official economic forecaster had expected GDP (the value of UK goods and services) to grow 2 per cent this year, but reduced that to 1 per cent, effectively wiping out £9.9 billion worth of budget wiggle room for the government. The OBR said that the 'economic and fiscal outlook' had become more challenging since the 2024 budget, and that domestic output had stagnated while business and consumer confidence had declined. Critics partly blamed the chancellor's decision to increase employer national insurance contributions, which they said would hamper companies' ability to invest and suppress wages. All this has had a knock-on effect on your finances. If the economy is growing, businesses are likely to be hiring and investing more, and wages will typically rise. Weak GDP growth means that companies are more likely to cut jobs and wages will be stagnant, leaving households worse off. The latest figures, for the three months to April 2025, show that GDP grew 0.7 per cent, up from the 0.5 per cent in the three months before the election. The outlookThings are, however, expected to look up. The OBR has forecast 1.9 per cent growth in 2026 and 1.8 per cent in 2027. Before the election Labour pledged not to increase national insurance, income tax or VAT. It also said that it would not extend the Conservatives' freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds, so would raise them in line with inflation from April 2028. These pledges have been kept, so far. But when questioned in parliament this week, Reeves would not rule out extending the freeze on income tax for a further two years. This came in the week that Office for National Statistics data showed that living standards fell at the sharpest rate in two years in the first quarter of 2025. The Resolution Foundation, a think tank, estimated in 2023 that the threshold freezes, brought in by the Conservative government, would cost taxpayers £40 billion a year by 2028. 'It can be difficult for people to pinpoint why their finances feel tighter, but a significant reason for many is that they may be paying more in income tax while also seeing inflation push their household bills ever higher,' said Chris Etherington from the accountancy firm RSM. 'This so-called fiscal drag can squeeze your income before you even get it.' • What is the UK inflation rate and what does it mean for you? If tax thresholds had risen with inflation at the start of the tax year in April, it is likely they would have gone up 1.7 per cent (the consumer price index inflation figure for the previous September, which is the measure usually used by the government). The personal allowance — the amount you can earn tax-free — would now be £12,784 instead of £12,570 and the higher-rate threshold would be £51,125 instead of £50,270. Someone earning £60,000 would have paid £11,218 income tax instead of £11,432. The outlook Workers and pensioners are unlikely to get any relief from fiscal drag until at least 2028. It means most people pay more tax every year, as incomes rise and tax thresholds don't keep up.A clear example of this is the state pension, which under the triple lock is guaranteed to go up by inflation, wage growth or 2.5 per cent a year, whichever is highest. If its annual value goes above the £12,570 tax threshold the government will be handing out state pension just to take some back in income tax. Capital gains tax (CGT) allowances — the amount you can earn tax-free from the sale of assets such as second homes, art or investments held outside an Isa — were slashed by the Conservatives, from £12,300 to £6,000 in 2023, and then to £3,000 in April last year. The Labour government then raised the basic rate of CGT from 10 to 18 per cent in October and the higher rate from 20 to 24 per cent. Someone making a £10,000 profit and paying the basic rate of CGT would have paid £400 tax in March last year, but today would pay £1,260. The government also extended the freeze on the inheritance tax threshold for another two years, until April 2030. The main tax-free allowance has been £325,000 since 2009, and the additional residential allowance, which you get if you leave your home to a child or grandchild and your estate is worth less than £2 million, has been £175,000 since 2020. Any value in an estate above the thresholds can be taxed at 40 per cent. If thresholds had risen in April in line with the 1.7 per cent inflation figure, they would now be £330,525 (or £508,500 with the residential allowance). An estate worth £1 million would save £3,400. Homebuyers have also been hit. The Conservative government increased the price levels at which stamp duty charges kick in as a permanent policy in 2022 to boost the market, then quickly made it a temporary measure that would end in March 2025, pushing costs for buyers back up. Labour stuck with that plan. The 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge paid by second-home owners, introduced in 2016, went up to 5 per cent in Reeves's budget last year. This, plus the lowering of the thresholds, means that someone buying a £300,000 second home now pays £20,000 in stamp duty, up from £11,500 in September. The outlookThere is more to come. From April 2027 any money left in your pension pots when you die will be included in your estate for inheritance tax purposes. If your estate (including property, cash savings and any investments you have) takes you over the £325,000 threshold (£500,000 including property), your pension pot will be taxed at 40 per cent. • How much do I need to retire? Labour's manifesto pledged to bring down the cost of energy, and reduce food prices. The energy price cap — the limit on what suppliers can charge per unit of gas and electricity to customers on a default tariff — works out at an average bill of £1,720 a year. This is down from the £1,849 level of the cap from April until the end of June. Analysts at Cornwall Insight expect it to fall again to £1,697 in October but, because the price cap is determined by wholesale oil prices, it can be volatile. Groceries are now 4.7 per cent more expensive than a year ago, according to the analysts Kantar. When it comes to the general cost of living, inflation was 3.4 per cent for the year to May, compared with 3.1 per cent at the time of the election. Other bills have also been affected. Families who educate their children privately are paying about 14 per cent more in fees since the government levied 20 per cent VAT on public schools. The Independent Schools Council annual census found that the average annual cost of sending a child to a day school was £18,064 last year, so a 14 per cent increase would cost families about £2,500 a year per child. And about a quarter of pensioners will not get the winter fuel payment, worth either £200 or £300 a year, from this winter. The payments used to be made to all pensioners, but this was restricted to those claiming pension credit after the election last year. Now, after a U-turn, only those with income greater than £35,000 will have that payment clawed back through the tax system. The outlookThe future picture for inflation looks more positive. The OBR expects inflation to level out at about the Bank of England's target of 2 per cent from spring next year. But Rachel Vahey from the investment firm AJ Bell said: 'The government has to balance a difficult economic equation and has banked on an improving economy to help boost tax revenues via fiscal drag while still leaving just enough left over to make people feel a little better off. 'Even though inflation has cooled somewhat and earnings are now rising above inflation, the financial pain of recent years will take some time to be erased. Many households, still reeling from inflation that far outstripped wage growth in 2022 and 2023, will feel that they are struggling to get back into a position of financial security.'
Times
16 minutes ago
- Times
Four-day week for council workers sets a disastrous example
South Cambridgeshire District Council insists that the four-day week trial has been a great success CHRIS RADBURN FOR THE TIMES Paying people to work less for the same salary is, not surprisingly, popular. South Cambridgeshire District Council, which since 2023 has given staff the option of working a four-day week, insists that the trial has been a great success: staff turnover has gone down and job applications are up. So pleased is the authority's Liberal Democrat leader with the trial, which she claims has saved £400,000 a year, that she proposes to make the arrangement permanent. The Conservative opposition is appalled. The results, it says, have been manipulated, key council services have suffered and voters are outraged. Little wonder. The experiment, which mirrors trials put in place by several private companies after the Covid pandemic, is based on a wholly misleading premise: that employees will be so motivated by the promise of extra leisure that they will work with increased intensity and efficiency, accomplishing in four days what was previously done in five. That may hold true for a few weeks or even years. But if such efficiencies can be achieved, why can the same savings and improvements not also be made during a five-day week? And will employees keep up the intensive pace or slip back to the normal routines of most jobs? Carrying out some tasks in less time may indeed become easier with the use of robots and artificial intelligence. But that could take years to percolate down to daily administration. What of bin collections or manning consumer contact centres — already one of the most infuriatingly neglected aspects of councils, where replacing humans with voice recordings defeats the whole purpose? Surveys of the Cambridgeshire experiment found plenty of consumer dissatisfaction in these areas as well as a dip in rent collection, delays in re-letting housing and lower tenant satisfaction. • First council set to adopt permanent four-day week Well-meaning proposals for a better work-life balance, or attempts to solve unemployment by cutting overtime, have usually foundered. France limited employment to 35 hours a week; it turned out to be a disastrous flop. Jobs could not be finished, overtime was not allowed and everyone complained. The law was watered down. But while flexible working time and especially provision for part-time jobs to bring more people into the workforce are sensible, the argument that a shorter working week will lead to greater productivity seems perverse. It is also hardly the example needed at a time when Britain is desperately attempting to raise its poor and uncompetitive productivity level. A few jobs can be accomplished in short bursts of intense activity; most cannot. If the South Cambridgeshire model is used as a template across the country, workers in other sectors where a four-day week is impossible will demand compensation. Any rise in job satisfaction is welcome and economically helpful, as is job retention. But Germany, where Friday is now virtually written off as a working day, has seen a major slide in productivity. No local authority in Britain and certainly not the entire nation can afford that now.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
A year of Keir: the first 365 days of Starmer in power
Sir Keir Starmer is marking his first year in Downing Street after suffering the shortest honeymoon of any prime minister in history, despite winning a massive 411 seats and a working majority of 156. After 365 days of his premiership, Labour is lingering in the polls at 23 per cent, behind Nigel Farage's insurgent Reform UK (28 per cent), and one of the defining images of this government so far may be chancellor Rachel Reeves in tears in the Commons earlier this week. When Starmer took office he promised growth and benefits for 'working people', but his national insurance tax rise has left fewer jobs and an economy that is stagnating. He has, though, pledged a 2.8 per cent increase to the NHS spending budget over a three-year period, amounting to a £30bn rise by 2028. Sir Keir has been a success on the international stage, with three trade deals and a pivotal role in the war in Ukraine and crises in the Middle East. He will have brought defence spending up to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027 and aims to get to 3 per cent in the next parliament. The prime minister has become the 'Trump whisperer', winning over the erratic US president while rebuilding Britain's international relationships and reputation around the globe. Despite the weakness of his position at home, with some in Labour suggesting he could be ousted as early as May next year, he remains the last reasonable option for a leader with fiscal responsibility at the head of a party that wants to take the brakes off spending and raise taxes. But he marked his first anniversary with a significant rebellion, which saw him ditch welfare reforms that would have saved his government £5bn a year, largely on disability benefits. Though Labour won 411 of 650 seats in last year's general election, the party took home a more moderate 33.8 per cent of the national vote on a turnout of just 60 per cent, with some describing it as 'the loveless landslide'. Now, one year later, polls from Techne show that just 23 per cent of voters would opt for Labour in a general election. Yet the past year has seen Reform UK make an unprecedented climb in the polls, at 28 per cent of the vote (according to Techne) – leaving the Tories reduced to 18 per cent. Labour still leads among younger voters, finding favour with 29 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds. But older voters have turned to Farage and Reform, now the first-choice party for a third of voters aged 55 and over. Added to this, confidence in the government is running at an all-time low of just 25 per cent, and Sir Keir's personal net favourability has fallen to a new low of -46, according to YouGov. Freebies and gifts Part of his rapid loss in popularity came when it emerged that Sir Keir, his wife Lady Victoria and a number of senior cabinet ministers had received controversial free gifts. These included hospitality at Arsenal, worth £8,750 per game, for the PM to watch his favourite football team. £39,000 Sir Keir received nearly £19,000 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses, as well as £20,000 worth of accommodation, from Waheed Alli, the former chair of online fashion retailer Asos. The PM also received a £4,000 ticket from the Football Association to see Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium. It also emerged that he had failed to declare a gift of clothes for his wife Victoria from Lord Alli. Mastering the trade deal The UK has negotiated two major trade deals, while a third has come in the form of a 'Brexit reset' with the EU. The UK-India trade agreement was years in the making, but was finally signed in May this year. The deal represents a £25.5bn boost to trade, according to government estimates. Meanwhile, as Donald Trump unleashed tariffs across the world, the UK came out relatively unscathed – a feat that has largely been attributed to Sir Keir's negotiations with his US counterpart. £6.5bn saved By bringing down automotive tariffs from 25 to 10 per cent, and eliminating levies on British cars, the US-UK trade deal is estimated to cut the blow from tariffs in half – from £10.8bn to £4.3bn, according to analysis revealed by The Independent. The tariff on steel, though, remains at 25 per cent and is subject to more negotiations. Voting record In the past year, Sir Keir voted just nine times in parliament, three of which were in the last month. The prime minister has blamed international engagements for his absences. He has weighed in exclusively on welfare, assisted dying, immigration, winter fuel payments and the Budget. By contrast, his predecessor Rishi Sunak voted 22 times in his first year as prime minister. Ups and downs in immigration Sir Keir's Labour can claim a victory in tackling migration, one of its manifesto pledges. This government has in part overseen the largest drop in net migration in recent history, down from 739,000 in the year ending June 2024 to 431,000 in the year to December 2024. At least six months of this period was under his predecessor Rishi Sunak's government, with net migration already dropping from its peak in June 2023. These figures are the lowest in over three years, following spiralling immigration post-Brexit. Net migration is still twice as high as pre-Brexit levels, and far from the 100,000 target set by David Cameron. Small boat arrivals paint a far less optimistic picture. The number of people crossing the channel has increased significantly under Labour, by 34 per cent. There have been around 42,000 small boat arrivals in the year ending 30 June 2025, compared to 31,000 in the previous year, and the figure is on course to exceed the peak of 45,000 in 2022. Sir Keir has already faced eight resignations by ministers, most notably international development minister Anneliese Dodds, who quit over brutal cuts to the UK's aid budget from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent. Two ministers resigned over cuts to disability benefits, while Treasury secretary Tulip Siddiq stepped back amid a corruption investigation involving her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, a former prime minister of Bangladesh. Just weeks after the election, Labour suspended seven MPs who voted against the whip for an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap, while a further 42 abstained. 7 Three MPs – John McDonnell, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana – have still not been readmitted into the Labour fold nearly 12 months later. Ms Sultana has since announced she is starting a new party with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The government's welfare bill, which passed just this week by 335 to 260 votes, faced major criticism for risking a restrictive system that could limit benefits for those who need them most. A total of 49 Labour rebels voted against it. A year of U-turns In 12 months, Sir Keir has reversed or significantly altered his stance on five major political issues. In addition to watering down this week's welfare bill, Sir Keir announced that winter fuel payments will be extended to a further 7.5 million pensioners, after raising the threshold for eligibility early in his government to help fill a black hole of £22bn Ms Reeves claimed to have found in the country's finances. Before the election, Labour promised it would not increase national insurance payments, but then increased employer national insurance contributions by 2 per cent. Sir Keir also finally agreed to launch an inquiry into grooming gangs, after months of deeming it unnecessary and describing those calling for one as 'far right'. He also said that the 'Waspi' women would not receive compensation for the increase in the state pension age, having promised before he was elected that a Labour government would compensate them. Inflation and debt Overall, inflation has gradually increased over a year of Labour governance, landing at 3.4 per cent in May. This is up from 2.2 per cent in July 2024, the month of the general election, leading to concerns about interest rates. Critics have claimed that after the last Tory government brought inflation down to 2.2 per cent, Labour are now beginning to lose control of it again. £2.86 trillion The UK's national debt stands at £2.86 trillion, up by £130bn since the general election, according to the Office for National Statistics. Overall, debt makes up 96.4 per cent of Britain's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the latest figures – up from 95.9 per cent last May. This is despite fiscal rules limiting debt imposed on the Treasury by Ms Reeves. This climbing debt comes with a hefty interest bill, to the tune of £5.6bn a year. An analysis by The Independent earlier this year found that the number of disability benefit recipients in the UK has risen more than other countries since Covid. However, the state spends less on welfare overall compared with other European countries. Nonetheless, welfare spending made up nearly a third (28 per cent) of the Labour government's first Budget, at £303bn, with the majority going towards state pensions and benefits for the elderly population. Working-age benefits alone cost £117.6bn, around 4.2 per cent of GDP, which is more than defence and education spending. At the same time, the UK is the only G7 nation that has seen economic inactivity increase since Covid. It currently stands at 21.3 per cent of working-age people. But economic inactivity has gone down over the first year of Sir Keir's Labour government, from 9.47 million people up to June last year, to 9.19 million people in the latest figures (April 2025). The number of payrolled employees dropped by 115,000 in the last year following the 2 per cent national insurance increase. The UK unemployment claimant count for May 2025 increased on the month and the year to 1.735 million. Female MPs Last July, the UK parliament became the most diverse in British history, in terms of both gender and ethnicity. Four in 10 MPs are women, with 263 female MPs elected across most parties in parliament. 72% The majority of this group (72 per cent) are Labour representatives, with nearly half of all Labour MPs being women (190 out of 403). There are seven female politicians in the cabinet, including deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and chancellor Ms Reeves.
