Labour risks igniting a new cronyism row over public appointments by lining up the outgoing boss of Unison, one of its biggest trade union backers, for a plum role on the board of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG).
Sky News has learnt that Christina McAnea, who was ousted as Unison’s general secretary last month, is among five new trustees of the London gallery understood to have been approved by Sir Keir Starmer.
The appointment process kicked off last summer, with an announcement expected about the new trustees expected within days.
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It comes soon after Labour became embroiled in a row over the recruitment of David Kogan, a former Labour donor, as the inaugural chair of the Independent Football Regulator – a process which triggered an inquiry by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
A Whitehall source said that Ina Sarikhani – whose husband is Sir Guy Weston, a member of the family dynasty behind Primark-owner Associated British Foods – and Mazdak Sanii, the chief executive of art marketplace Avant Arte were also among those selected to become new trustees of the NPG.
The identities of the remaining two are unclear, although one is understood to be an academic.
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Ms McAnea, who has been general secretary of Unison since 2021, had maintained its close links with Labour during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.
Her successor, Andrea Egan, triumphed in a poll of the union’s members last month.
Ms Egan, a leftwinger who was expelled from Labour in 2022, has been openly critical of the government, and is reported to be considering formal disaffiliation from the party.
It was unclear on Wednesday which of the five new appointees would be appointed as the NPG’s next chair, a role held on an interim basis by Professor Shearer West.
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Professor West took over from the Carphone Warehouse billionaire David Ross, who stepped down in October after serving a second four-year term.
A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “We do not comment on speculation.
“We will make announcements in due course.”
Nigel Huddleston, the shadow culture secretary, described the impending appointment of Ms McAnea as “bare-faced hypocrisy”.
“Labour were quick to criticise the appointment of perceived right-leaning individuals when we were in power, and yet are enthusiastically appointing swathes of left-wing cronies without a hint of shame,” he said.
