Liz Truss’s chief of staff is being paid a salary through a third-party consultancy, the Cabinet Office confirmed on Sunday, in a highly unusual arrangement for a government special adviser.
Mark Fullbrook, who joined Downing Street this month as the UK prime minister’s most senior aide, is being paid via a private lobbying company instead of directly by the government.
Special advisers are typically employed as temporary civil servants, albeit without the restrictions on political neutrality that are required for most officials.
Fullbrook, instead, will be contracted through Fullbrook Strategies, a private company that he founded in April — a decision first reported by the Sunday Times. The company has suspended its commercial activities while he is working in government.
One senior Whitehall official described Fullbrook’s arrangement as “very unusual”, adding: “I’ve never heard of a special adviser being employed by a private company.”
Another government insider suggested that Fullbrook’s arrangement may be due to the temporary nature of his employment. “Most people are expecting Mark to leave after the first couple of months — he’s agreed to see through the first phase of the Truss government,” the official said. “That’s why, I expect, he’s not on staff.”
The Cabinet Office said it was “not unusual for a special adviser or civil servant to join government on secondment”, adding that “any government employee hired on secondment is subject to the usual special adviser or civil service codes”.
It confirmed that Fullbrook’s arrangement had been cleared by the propriety and ethics team within the Cabinet Office that oversees all special adviser appointments. “The government will pay the salary of an employee on secondment, including costs such as employer’s National Insurance contributions to the seconding company.”
However, Alex Thomas, a programme director at the Institute for Government think-tank, said it was “very unusual” and there was “no equivalent, especially at such a senior level” for an aide to be employed as a contractor.
“Secondments happen quite a bit in Whitehall, and the government often uses contractors,” he said. “But for a permanent special adviser to be paid this way is without precedent.”
As a longstanding political strategist, Fullbrook has advised Conservative leaders since Margaret Thatcher. The 60-year-old led Truss’s leadership campaign and has overseen the transition into government.
Last week, it was revealed that Fullbrook was co-operating with US authorities as part of an investigation into Julio Herrera Velutini, a Conservative party donor charged over allegations that he illegally provided campaign donations to a former governor of Puerto Rico.
Velutini has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A spokesperson for Fullbrook said he complied with all laws and regulations in all jurisdictions and was confident he had done so in this matter.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said: “The shocking revelation that the prime minister’s chief of staff is on loan from a lobbying company, not actually employed by the government, raises serious questions about the new prime minister’s judgment.
She added: “The fact that this bombshell comes days after alarming reports that Mr Fullbrook is also embroiled in a foreign bribery probe involving the FBI will only add to public concern.
“While Liz Truss shows all the signs of allowing another wave of Tory sleaze to fester, a Labour government would create an Independent Ethics and Integrity Commission to clean up public life and restore the basic standards we expect.”
