Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has defended recent controversial appointments amid growing criticism from the Conservative Party.
In a speech delivered in the Downing Street rose garden, Starmer claimed he was "getting the best people into the best jobs" and emphasised the need to "move at pace" in addressing the country's challenges.
The row centres on several appointments, including Labour donor Ian Corfield's brief stint in a Treasury role and the promotion of Louise Tinsley, who previously worked for Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Conservative chairman Richard Fuller accused Labour of becoming "engulfed in sleaze" and abandoning its "ambition of public service" in fewer than 100 days since taking office.
He also claimed Labour had "laid the groundwork to harm pensioners and tax working people."
Suella Braverman raised "serious questions about probity and rigour" in the Labour.
"[The] Labour Government seems to be embroiled right now in a cronyism row," she told LBC.
Sir Keir Starmer was forced to defend appointments to his Government amid 'sleaze' accusations
PA
"They seem to have issued passes and access and roles to Labour Party donors as if there's no tomorrow, and, be bypassing civil services impartiality rules."
Corfield, a former banker who donated £18,000 to Labour, was initially given a director role at the Treasury with a salary of at least £95,000 annually. He has since resigned and taken an unpaid position.
Tinsley has been promoted to a powerful new role in the Treasury as the director of special advisers and chancellor engagement.
Meanwhile, Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli, who has donated over £500,000 to the party, was granted a Downing Street pass despite not having a formal job there.
Starmer defended giving the Labour donor a pass, telling a press conference this morning: "He was doing some transition work with us. He had a pass for a short term time to do that work. The work finished, and he hasn't got a pass."
Defending his appointments, Starmer said: "We are going to fix the foundations. We've got to do it at speed, and I'm determined to have the right people in the right places to allow us to get on with that job."
The Prime Minister said he was 'working at speed' in order to 'fix the foundations' of the country
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The Prime Minister dismissed criticism from the Conservatives, stating: "I'm not really going to take lectures on this from the people who dragged our country so far down in the last few years."
Starmer emphasised the urgency of addressing the country's challenges, claiming Labour inherited "not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole" from the previous Government.
He promised to put the public "at the heart of our Government and in the forefront of our minds, at the centre of everything we do".
The Tories have written to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case regarding Lord Alli's Downing Street pass, demanding answers on who authorised it, when it was issued and rescinded.