Furore over Labour cronies ‘no worse than Tories’ in government, allies say

Political veterans say Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves installing trusted allies in Whitehall roles par for the course

Of course we were always going to get our people' in! It's what you do," says one bemused veteran of the 1997 Labour government.

Old political hands regard the furore over Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves installing cronies" into government jobs as par for the course - and certainly no worse than what the Tories have done for more than a decade.