UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy broke the rules governing public appointments when she failed to declare that her preferred candidate for chair of the Independent Football Regulator had previously donated money to her campaign to be leader of the Labour Party.

Media rights expert David Kogan emerged as the government’s choice to lead the new football watchdog in May, a choice that was backed by the cross-bench Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) select committee and has been welcomed by sections of the football industry.

But Kogan is a long-standing Labour supporter, having written two books about the party’s history, been a director of a Labour news website and, most significantly, donated more than £33,000 to various Labour members of parliament over the last five years.

However, when Nandy, who runs the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that has set up the regulator, picked Kogan, she did not know he had made two donations of £1,450 to her campaign to replace Jeremy Corbyn as party leader in 2020.

Kogan’s donations were below the declaration threshold and Nandy received similar donations from dozens of contributors. Kogan donated the same amounts to the winning candidate, Sir Keir Starmer, now UK prime minister.

Nandy, though, became aware of these donations in the days preceding Kogan’s appearance before the DCMS select committee in early May, as she updated her public register of interests on the eve of that cross-examination. Kogan then told the committee about them himself.

But, according to a report by the commissioner for public appointments published on Thursday, that was too late, as Nandy knew Kogan had made donations and she should have checked if she had been a recipient before selecting him for such a high-profile role.

Sir William Shawcross, the author of that report, also found two further breaches of the public appointments code: Kogan’s potential conflict of interest was not even discussed during his interview with the independent selection panel, and DCMS did not mention his “political activity” when it announced he had been named as preferred candidate.

In his 18-page report, Shawcross details what was an unusual and convoluted selection process. Some of that was because there was a change of government in the summer of 2024, when Starmer’s Labour Party replaced Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives. But it was also because Kogan was initially allowed to apply late for the role and then, after pulling out, allowed back into the process when it became clear the government had not found a candidate they liked.

David Kogan pictured in 2017 (JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)

Shawcross did not consider these anomalies to be breaches of the code but he did say they were not best practice.

On the key point about Nandy’s failure to check if she had received a donation before picking Kogan, Shawcross said: “It need not be true that the donations actually influenced the secretary of state’s decision-making – only that the risk of this perception should have been mitigated by declaration of this financial interest.”

Nandy did eventually discover the truth and publish it. She also personally notified the CMS committee and then recused herself from the final decision to appoint Kogan, leaving that up to Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock.

In a letter to Starmer published alongside the Shawcross report, Nandy wrote: “I deeply regret this error. I appreciate the perception it could create but it was not deliberate and I apologise for it.”

She then noted that Shawcross had made no finding on Kogan’s suitability for the role and pointed out that he has made positive first impression in the role.

In his reply, Starmer noted “the commissioner’s findings that the error was unknowing”, accepted her assurance that it was not deliberate and said “it is clear you have acted in good faith”.

He did, however, point out “the process followed was not entirely up to the standard expected” and lessons must be learned.

The prime minister concluded by agreeing there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Kogan’s part, before adding “it is important the government now gets on with delivering our manifesto commitment to make Britain the best place to be a football fan”.

‘Not the best of starts for the new regulator’

Analysis

In truth, this process was never going to reverse the decision to appoint Kogan, as Shawcross does not have those powers – it was only ever going to result in some more negative headlines for a government that could badly do with a break from those.

But nobody can pretend this has been the best of starts for a regulator that some in the game have already decided is, at best, a waste of time, and, at worst, a government-appointed meddler.

Kogan, on the other hand, has shown no indication that he is going to let any of this distract himself from the job of creating a more sustainable football pyramid, with better-run and resourced clubs, and more protection for fans’ interests.