Key facts
- An accountancy firm director who donated to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been reprimanded by the accountancy regulator for breaching accountancy standards.
- Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, was found to have breached the code on public appointments by failing to declare donations from David Kogan.
- David Kogan, a media rights expert, made two donations totalling £2,900 to Nandy's leadership campaign in 2020.
- The Prime Minister stated that Nandy had acted in good faith but reprimanded her for not meeting expected standards.
- Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake questioned the timing and nature of payments made to Nandy's campaign, suggesting they were designed to conceal the total amount.
- Kogan also made donations to Sir Keir Starmer and the Prime Minister's constituency Labour Party.
An accountancy firm director, who had previously donated to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, has been severely reprimanded by the accountancy regulator for breaching accountancy standards. The director, David Kogan, was also involved in a separate controversy regarding his appointment to chair the new football watchdog.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was found to have breached the code on public appointments by failing to declare donations totalling £2,900 from Kogan to her leadership campaign in 2020. While Nandy stated she "unknowingly" breached the rules, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reprimanded her, noting that the process "was not entirely up to the standard expected." Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake questioned the donations, suggesting they were deliberately structured to avoid public declaration.
Kogan, a media rights expert, was the government's preferred candidate for the Independent Football Regulator role. The commissioner for public appointments, William Shawcross, ruled that the appointment process involved three breaches of the Governance Code, including Nandy's failure to disclose Kogan's political donations and the lack of discussion regarding potential conflicts of interest during his interview. Kogan had also made donations to Sir Keir Starmer and the Prime Minister's constituency Labour Party.