U.K. Faces Conflict-of-Interest Row in Regulator Chair Hunt
U.K. Faces Conflict-of-Interest Row in Regulator Chair Hunt
(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. has been accused of politicizing its prolonged search for a chair of internet regulator Ofcom, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces calls for an investigation into so-called sleaze in his government.
On Wednesday consultant Michael Simmonds was added to the government panel assessing candidates, according to the Cabinet Office website. He’s co-chief executive of Yonder Consulting, whose website lists “expertise” with organizations including the Conservative Party as well as the Ofcom-regulated British Broadcasting Corp., ITV Plc, Channel 4, Amazon.com Inc., Vodafone Group Plc and BT Group Plc.
He is married to former Conservative minister Nick Gibb, and brother-in-law of Robbie Gibb, a former spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May. Robbie Gibb is now also a board member of the state-backed broadcaster, the BBC, which he has criticized.
“The Ofcom chair is a critical role with a hugely wide ranging remit that will include the new online safety regime,” said Jo Stevens, the opposition Labour Party’s digital and culture spokeswoman. “The public need to have confidence that independent regulators and how senior roles within them are appointed are truly independent and not influenced by ministers or their friends.”
“There cannot be one rule for the government and their friends and another for everyone else,” she added.
Yonder Consulting did not respond to a request for comment outside of ordinary business hours.
Former BT corporate affairs director Michael Prescott had also drawn criticism from Labour’s Stevens for his role as the panel’s senior independent panelist, announced last week, because his employer Hanover Communications lobbies for Facebook and Comcast Corp.’s Sky, businesses also regulated by Ofcom. Prescott declined to comment and referred queries to DCMS.
The process will follow the U.K.’s governance code for public appointments, which requires a senior independent panel member and can include additional panel members to ensure a range of views, a spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said by email. Prescott doesn’t have any direct relationships with Ofcom-regulated companies, they said, and there is no requirement for Simmonds to meet the same independent panelist criteria as he is an additional panelist.
The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, who has approved Prescott as independent of Ofcom, DCMS said.
The final decision will rest with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who launched the second search for an Ofcom chair earlier this month. It will be spearheaded by senior civil servant Sue Gray and supported by headhunters Saxton Bampfylde.
The first search was scrapped in May amid claims the process was undermined by lobbying, an insufficient number of applicants, and issues with the government’s favored candidate, former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre. Dacre is an outspoken critic of the BBC and technology companies. The government’s second job description has been tweaked to describe a less collegiate, positive working relationship between chairman and CEO.
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