Lisa Nandy apologizes for breaking the rules of appointing a football organizer

The Culture Secretary has apologized for breaking the rules by not announcing that she had received donations from the man she has chosen to run England’s new football regulatory body.

On Thursday, the Public Appointments Commissioner published a report that found David Coogan made two separate donations worth £1,450 to Lisa Nandy, when she was running to be Labor leader in 2020.

“We did not meet the highest standards, and that is my responsibility,” Nandy said, speaking on the BBC’s Sunday program with Laura Kuenssberg.

The Conservatives said Nandy’s actions were a “serious breach of public trust” and called for a further investigation into Sir Keir Starmer, who also received donations from Mr Coogan.

“As the commissioner stated, my suitability for this role was never in doubt, and I was not aware of any deviation from best practices at any time,” Cogan said in a statement.

Coogan, a sports rights executive, was initially longlisted for the role of football regulator under the previous Conservative government.

Nandy became involved in the process after Labor won the 2024 general election and took up the position of Culture Minister.

In April, she announced that Coogan would be her preferred choice for the £130,000-a-year position.

However, a month later, she removed herself from the appointment process after Mr Cogan revealed to a parliamentary committee that he had donated “very small amounts” to Nandi in 2020.

In his report, Public Appointments Commissioner Sir William Shawcross said Nandy had “inadvertently” broken the law and should have checked whether Mr Cogan had given her money before choosing him as her preferred candidate.

The commissioner said the contributions were part of a total of £33,410 in donations to the Labor Party and party candidates in the five years before his appointment.

Mr Cogan’s donations to Nandy were below the declaration threshold set by the Electoral Commission and Parliament.

When asked why she did not announce the donation during the appointments process, Lisa Nandy said Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that she was not aware of the money at the time it was made.

She said that during her leadership campaign she was “on the road” campaigning and giving interviews.

“I did not participate in fundraising for the campaign, and as soon as I learned of this, I announced this, withdrew, and fully complied with the process.”

She insisted that Labor was different from the Conservatives, saying: “When we make mistakes – and we will make mistakes, we are human – we subject ourselves to independent processes, respect the outcome and accept the consequences.”

Sir William said in his report: “It is not necessarily true that the donations actually influenced the Secretary of State’s decision-making – but the risks of this perception should have been mitigated by declaring this financial interest.”

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport was found to have breached the rules by not declaring Mr Coogan’s previous donations to the Labor Party when he was chosen as the Government’s preferred choice for the job.

Sir William also found that management also broke the rules by not discussing donations to Nandy when Mr Coogan was interviewed for the job.

After the report was published, Nandy wrote a letter to the Prime Minister in which he said: “I am deeply sorry for this error. I appreciate the perception it can create.”

In his response, Sir Keir Starmer wrote: “I know you are an honest person and, on the basis of your letter, you clearly acted in good faith.”

In May 2024, Mr Coogan donated £2,500 to the Prime Minister’s Local Action Branch in Holborn and St Pancras.

The Conservatives have asked government ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate whether Sir Keir’s role in Mr Coogan’s appointment breached ministerial rules on transparency.

Downing Street said Sir William Shawcross had already conducted a wide-ranging review and “found no breaches other than those set out in the report”.

The football regulator role was created following a fan-conducted review of football club management.

The regulatory body is tasked with improving the financial sustainability of clubs and protecting the “heritage of English football”.