ED Miliband risks a fresh cronyism row for appointing a close Labour pal to a plum civil service job.
The Energy Secretary has appointed his former political spin doctor Bob Roberts as the department’s new director of communications.
Whitehall insiders told The Sun it was “outrageous” to give an impartial taxpayer-funded posting to a former senior party official.
Mr Roberts served as Mr Miliband’s director of communications during his doomed stint as Labour leader between 2010 and 2015.
A Tory spokesman said: “Another day, another Labour insider handed a taxpayer-funded job. Ed Miliband’s old spin doctor now running comms for his department tells you everything about this Government.
“This kind of cronyism makes a mockery of Civil Service impartiality and shows just how desperate Morgan McSweeney is to tighten his grip on every corner of government.”
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Labour faced a cronyism storm shortly after coming to office after parachuting political figures into civil service jobs.
It included prominent donor Ian Corfield given a Treasury role, and Jess Sargeant shunted from a Labour-supporting think tank into the Cabinet Office.
And mega-donor Lord Alli famously was handed a No10 pass.
A government spokesperson said of Mr Roberts’ job: “This appointment followed the appropriate processes in line with the government’s recruitment principles.”
Sources stressed it was an open and fair recruitment process in line with the Civil Service Commission.