Labour has appointed more than 200 “cronies” to the Civil Service without competition since the general election, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Government has made the equivalent of two exceptional hires for every day of Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership so far, prompting claims he has used his first few months in charge to stack Whitehall with allies.
The appointments have been made using a rule that allows ministers to circumnavigate the usual Civil Service recruitment process. This should generally only be done for short-term placements, where “highly specialist skills” are required, or when re-hiring former civil servants previously appointed on merit.
The revelations threaten to reignite the cronyism row that dogged the Prime Minister during his first weeks in office when it was claimed several party loyalists had been parachuted into supposedly impartial Whitehall roles.
The true scale of the deviation from open hiring processes has now started to emerge, with official government data revealing that more than 200 civil servants have been appointed without competition since Sir Keir took charge.
Individual departments provided the figures in response to a series of written questions from John Glen, the shadow paymaster general. No names were provided, so it is difficult to determine how many of the officials – if any – had prior links to the Labour Party, beyond those already reported.
Analysis of the data by The Telegraph reveals that there have been at least 228 exceptional hires since July. The true number is likely to be higher, as figures were only available for nine departments.
‘Civil Service stacked with Keir’s cronies’
Responding to the findings, Mr Glen said: “It would appear that the Labour Party has spent their first 100 days stacking the Civil Service with Keir’s cronies.
“This is corrosive to the integrity and independence of the Civil Service.
“Labour has failed to be fully open about the basis for these exceptions. Some exceptions will no doubt be justified, but they have shut down parliamentary scrutiny, so they clearly have something to hide.
“Labour must come clean about the full extent of the cronyism across every level of Starmer’s Government.”
Of the 228 appointments made without competition, 109 were in the Home Office.
The department said the exceptions were made for temporary appointments, secondments and the re-appointment of former civil servants, among other reasons that were in line with Civil Service Commission rules.
Two employees were hired on salaries of more than £50,000, while the majority were lower-paid – earning between £20,000 and £30,000.
A further 43 exceptional hires were made by the Ministry of Justice, including 12 paid more than £50,000.
The Department of Health and Social Care had the third highest total – appointing 29 officials without competition, including four senior civil servants being paid between £76,000 and £208,000 per year.
This was followed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which made 24 exceptional hires, the Treasury, which made 13, and the Department for Transport, which made 5.
The Attorney General’s Office, Wales Office and Northern Ireland Office did not appoint any civil servants without an open process, while the Scotland Office said it did not employ staff directly. Other departments refused to provide details, citing exemptions.
Most figures dated back to the election, while the Department for Transport provided records stretching back slightly further, to July 1.
An investigation into unusual appointments was launched by the Civil Service watchdog in August, with departments told to declare any exceptional hires made in the weeks after the election so that they could be reviewed by the regulator.
However, the findings have not yet been made public, with the responses to the written questions from Mr Glen providing the most comprehensive account of unusual hires since Labour took office in July.
A Labour source said: “John Glen clearly lost his memory when he lost his job as a minister.
“There were 24,000 appointments without competition in just two years under the last Conservative government, which puts these figures into perspective.”
The Cabinet Office has been approached for comment.
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