Labour advisers at the Home Office broke the law by meeting candidates for a senior Civil Service job, the appointments watchdog has found.
Revealed here for the first time, an internal Home Office investigation found that special advisers unlawfully met applicants during the interview process for a Director position in the department.
Baroness Stuart, the First Civil Service Commissioner, concluded that their involvement breached the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as well as Civil Service recruitment rules.
The rules are designed to keep political advisers out of the selection process of permanent civil servants to prevent roles being filled on the basis of political loyalty.
In a letter uncovered by this Substack, dated 22 June 2026, Stuart told Home Office permanent secretary Gareth Davies that the meetings constituted “a breach of both the Recruitment Principles and the underpinning legislation, the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010”.
She classified the incident as a “Fundamental Breach” and ordered a targeted audit of Home Office procedures.
A “fundamental breach” is the watchdog’s most serious category, reserved for “egregious or wilful non-compliance” with appointment rules or its instructions, and triggers an immediate audit.
Its annual report recorded 234 recruitment breaches across government in 2024/25, but none in that most serious category.
