Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has apologised to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer after an inquiry found she failed to declare that her nominee to lead the new football regulator had donated to her and to Labour before she nominated him.
The apology follows a report by William Shawcross, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, which identified three breaches of the governance code. Nandy did not immediately declare that media executive David Kogan had donated twice to her unsuccessful 2020 Labour leadership campaign. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport also failed to discuss the donations during her interview with Kogan and did not declare his larger donations to Labour, including to Starmer's leadership campaign.
Nandy stated she was unaware of Kogan's donations to her at the time but accepted the report's findings, saying she “deeply regrets this error”. Starmer accepted the apology but noted the process “was not entirely up to the standard expected” and called for lessons to be learned.
The reprimand does not affect Kogan's appointment as chair of the Independent Football Regulator, which was confirmed last month. Kogan said he had cooperated fully and was unaware of any deviation from best practice.
This is the second embarrassment for the government in recent weeks, following Chancellor Rachel Reeves' apology for failing to obtain a licence before renting out her family home.
