A LABOUR minister has been slated for a “hopeless” defence of alleged cronyism in the party.

Treasury Minister James Murray insisted “long-term involvement” in a party should not “prohibit” someone from helping that party in government in an awkward Newsnight interview.

He spoke to host Victoria Derbyshire after it emerged earlier this week a major Labour donor, Lord Waheed Alli, had a “temporary” pass to Number 10 despite not having an official government role. He has donated thousands of pounds to Keir Starmer’s party.

Number 10 confirmed he held a garden reception while in possession of the pass, but said it was “temporary” and was given back “several weeks ago”.

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It also came out that Labour donor and former banker Ian Corfield was appointed to a director role in the Treasury after gifting £18,000 to Labour politicians – including £5000 to Chancellor Rachel Reeves – and working for the party in the run-up to the General Election.

His position – which Labour defended as “perfectly appropriate” – would have commanded a salary of at least £95,000 a year, but the Sunday Times reported he will now take up an unpaid role as a Treasury adviser.

Starmer attempted to defend parachuting Labour supporters into Government in a speech on Tuesday by saying he was "getting the best people into the best jobs". 

Murray was pressed on why Labour appeared to be allowing cronyism in the party when they were so critical of it when the Tories were in government.

Asked if cronyism was bad under a Conservative government but acceptable under Labour, Murray said after an awkward pause: “Cronyism is something Keir Starmer has made clear he wants to drive out of government.

“For him, process and procedure is absolutely critical.”

Derbyshire then questioned why things didn’t seem to be any different under Labour as promised, to which Murray said: “Keir Starmer has started driving that change by making sure that we are a government of service, that we’re focused on the needs of the British people rather than party politics or internal distractions.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Image: Hannah McKay/PA Wire)

He was then grilled on why civil service jobs were being handed to Labour supporters and donors if process and procedure was so "important" to Starmer, who previously promised a “total crackdown” on cronyism. 

Murray then decided to begin defending some of Labour’s actions by arguing that “long-term involvement” in a party should not hinder you from “helping” when it gets into power.

He specifically defended Lord Alli, who had been part of the “long-term project” of getting into government.

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Murray said: “All I can say more generally is that people who are long-term involved in a political party and support a political party, that should not prohibit them from helping the party in government. That should not exclude them from being able to do that.

“You mentioned Lord Alli who has been a long-term contributor to the Labour Party. So I know someone like him has been long-term part of the project of trying to get a Labour government.”

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn branded the response from Murray “hopeless”.

Sharing the clip, he said on Twitter/X: “Labour were asked this question in the morning. Had twelve hours to consider how to recover from a hopeless answer and decided this was the best route forward.”

Other social media users were using the hashtag #VoteLabourGetTory while one said: “Hey @ScottishLabour, that 'change' thingy, when is it coming again?”

Another user added: “Absolutely clear the only change was blue Tory to red Tory.”

Scottish independence supporter Richard Montgomery posted: “Labour/Tory cronyism, what’s the difference?

“If you had said this clip was of a Tory defending government cronyism from six months ago you wouldn’t be surprised.

“The fact it’s a Labour fud after only a couple of months in power is shocking.”