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The Conservative Party is helping donors apply for public roles, with officials offering behind-the-scenes support and directing applicants to a secretive Number 10 unit closed to members of the public.

Leaked documents show that Tory officials have referred supporters to the prime minister’s appointments unit, whose existence is not widely acknowledged and which operates using interchangeable names.

Ben Elliot, the party chairman, is among those to have helped donors navigate the appointments process, often raising funds for political purposes at the same time.

In one instance, in May 2020, Elliot, 46, received a message from a donor who had conceived of a new role for himself overseeing emergency Covid-19 loans. Elliot responded by looping in two people to an email: one of Boris Johnson’s most senior advisers and an aide at party headquarters. He told his colleagues the donor would be an “excellent candidate”.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/conservative-party-nudge-donors-plum-jobs-no10-zr5g2wv8n?