Labour risks cronyism row as Wes Streeting's partner handed party job

Labour risked sparking a fresh cronyism row last night as it emerged that the Health Secretary's partner has been handed a senior party role.

Joe Dancey, who is the Wes Streeting's fiancé, has been installed as the party's new executive director of policy and communications.

The plum role comes with a £104,985 salary and is arguably only second in significance to the party's general secretary.

It was created after Sir Keir Starmer's director of communications, Matthew Doyle and policy chief Stuart Ingham entered Government.

It means Mr Dancey will have a leading role in Labour's efforts to retain a majority and win the next election comfortably.

Mr Dancey, who has been engaged to Mr Streeting since 2022, was Labour's parliamentary candidate for Stockton West in the general election.

But he lost to the Tories' Matt Vickers by 2,139 votes.

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He was announced as the successful candidate for the new role in a message to party staff yesterday, The Times reported.

Mr Dancey has long had close links to the party, having worked for the former New Labour cabinet ministers Baroness Amos and Lord Mandelson.

But he also ran former Olympian and Tory peer Lord Coe's office during the London 2012 Olympics.

He also runs his own political and communications consultancy, Endeavour Advisory.

In his new role, which was advertised, Mr Dancey will be responsible for 'strategic leadership and oversight' of Labour's media operation and policy work.

While his appointment has been broadly welcomed in the party, some have questioned his experience in communications.

It is the latest in a series of senior Labour figures with close family links.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves's sister, Ellie Reeves, is the party's chair, while Mr Ingham is married to Jess Leigh, a special adviser to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

It also comes after it emerged that dozens of civil servants have been appointed by the government without an open hiring process.

The Civil Service Commission watchdog has recorded 67 occasions when Labour requested an exemption to go outside the normal recruitment process for civil servants.

There is no suggestion that Mr Dancey's appointment has broken any rules and it was publicly advertised.