Lammy appointed Labour donor to plum foreign office role

Exclusive: Karen Blackett donated £5,000 to foreign secretary’s office last year. Now she’s been given a paid role as a non-executive director in his department.

By Adam Ramsay and Peter Geoghegan

Foreign Secretary David Lammy is facing calls to explain how a political donor secured a senior role in his department after giving money to his personal office.

Karen Blackett, a former UK president of the global advertising and lobbying giant WPP, was appointed last month as a non-executive director (NED) on the Foreign Office’s supervisory board. Ahead of the 2024 general election, Blackett donated £5,000 to Lammy’s office.

Campaigners have said the appointment raises concerns about conflicts of interest and pointed to WPP’s role as the PR firm with the most fossil fuel industry clients in the world.

NEDs are appointed by ministers to provide “strategic direction, oversight, support and challenge” alongside civil servants and ministers. The role is paid—up to £20,000 a year—for what is typically a 20-day annual commitment.

A foreign office spokesperson said Blackett was “appointed as part of a fair and open public recruitment campaign which fully adhered to the governance code on public appointments.” Her donation to Lammy is mentioned on her official appointments page on the Gov.uk website.

In opposition, Labour frequently accused the Conservatives of cronyism in its appointments to such departmental non-executive directorships. In 2021, deputy leader Angela Rayner called for “a radical overhaul” of the system after health secretary Matt Hancock was pictured kissing Gina Coladangelo, an NED in his department.

However, since Starmer’s government came into power last year, Labour has been accused of giving plum jobs to donors and political allies.

Last August, banker Ian Corfield resigned from the Treasury after it emerged he had donated £20,000 to Labour—including £5,000 to Chancellor Rachel Reeves—prior to taking up a senior civil service role.

Labour also faced backlash when Jess Sargeant, a former staffer at the Labour-affiliated think tank Labour Together, was appointed to the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group.

In another case, the government failed to disclose key political links of a senior civil service candidate. Emily Middleton was appointed director general at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, despite having previously been seconded to Peter Kyle’s office while he was shadow science secretary.

Blackett and Lammy have long-standing ties. In 2020, they appeared together on a panel about “racial equality and the role of brands” hosted by the consultancy firm Kantar. The following year, they co-founded the Black Equity Organisation.

Blackett holds several other prominent positions: she is a non-executive director at drinks giant Diageo, Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, and an OBE recipient. She has frequently been listed among the UK’s most influential Black women.

But her close links to WPP—a major player in fossil fuel PR—have drawn criticism from environmental campaigners. Blackett worked at WPP for 29 years, eventually becoming UK president.

According to campaign group Clean Creatives, WPP has more fossil fuel clients than any other major PR firm, representing companies including Shell, BP, Total, ExxonMobil, Drax and Saudi Aramco. Last month, climate activists occupied WPP’s London headquarters, demanding it cut ties with oil and gas companies.

On Monday, parliament debated a petition signed by over 110,000 people calling for a ban on fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship, supported by campaigner Chris Packham, Culture Unstained, and others.

Speaking to Democracy for Sale, Robbie Gillett, director at Adfree Cities, said “given WPP’s role in brand management for some of the world’s worst polluters including BP, Shell, Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil and Chevron, and given the Foreign Office’s role in shaping the international policy landscape in which those companies operate, the appointment raises questions over a potential conflict of interest.”

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, told us that “Lammy has serious questions to answer about how Blackett came to be appointed and whether any assessment was done of how her previous job, as the president of the PR firm with the most fossil fuel industry clients in the world, might conflict with the FCDO’s role in tackling the climate crisis.”

In August, the Civil Service Commissioner launched a review of political appointments to official jobs. In her final report, published in November, Commissioner Gisela Stuart—a former Labour MP and prominent Brexit supporter appointed by Boris Johnson—said she was “largely satisfied” with existing processes.

Neither Blackett nor WPP responded to Democracy for Sale’s request for comment on this story.

Adam Ramsay writes the ‘Abolish Westminster’ newsletter on Substack.