Minister Lisa Nandy has broken rules regarding the appointment of football’s governing body

Lisa Nandy has been found to have “inadvertently” breached public appointment rules by selecting her to be the head of England’s new football watchdog.

The Culture Secretary appointed Sports Rights Executive David Cogan as the government’s preferred choice to run the new regulatory body in April.

But she later backed out of the process, after confirming Mr Coogan had donated £2,900 to her 2020 Labor leadership campaign, according to a report.

Sir William Shawcross, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, said Nandy should have checked beforehand and taken “any necessary action”.

Sir William added: “The fact of the donations was capable of creating a clear conflict of interest in the appointment process.”

He added that Nandy was “in a position to confirm whether he had donated to her campaign”, with officials telling her that Coogan had “extensive connections to the Labor Party and had made several donations to it”.

In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Nandy said she announced Coogan’s donations to her campaign “as soon as she became aware of the existence of these donations”.

She added: I deeply regret this mistake. “I appreciate the perception this could create, but it was not intentional and I apologize for it.”

In his response, the Prime Minister said he accepted that Nandy “acted in good faith”.