Sir Keir Starmer has been told to pause Dundee University vice principal Wendy Alexander’s appointment to the House of Lords until a probe into financial crisis is complete.
In a letter to the prime minister, Dundee Central MP Chris Law said Ms Alexander’s peerage should be suspended until “questions around the recent management” of the institution are resolved.
The former Scottish Labour leader is currently serving out her notice period as vice principal international – a role for which she earns between £190,000 and £199,000.
She is scheduled to be introduced to the Lords as a Baroness on February 13.
After this she will entitled to sit as a legislator for life and claim a daily attendance allowance of £361.
In a letter seen by The Courier Mr Law said that in light of the £30 million financial crisis at the university, this appointment should be paused until an investigation into the management is completed.
He said: “When this appointment was first announced in December, I assumed that the government would carry out the necessary scrutiny and vetting to ensure that all nominees were of a fit and proper stature necessary for assuming this role.”
He added: “It is expected more information about the University of Dundee’s leadership decisions will be made public over the coming months and I think it is only right that appointments of any nominees facing such scrutiny must be suspended until all details have been made public and any subsequent investigation, either internal or external, has taken place.
“There are far too many questions still unanswered around your nominated appointment’s role in the University of Dundee’s current predicament, and I ask that you consider suspending this appointment until an open and transparent investigation by the university or other body has taken place.”
A Number 10 spokesman refused to comment on whether the prime minister would reconsider the appointment, saying all nominations were vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
‘Rewarding failure’
A source said that Ms Alexander was central to the team that oversaw the challenges now facing the university, and that an investigation was needed to determine what happened.
They added: “Rewarding her with a place in the Lords, a job for life, before that investigation has taken place could be seen as rewarding failure.
“It just makes sense to look into what happened in Dundee before making someone a Baroness and utterly unaccountable for the rest of her time in politics.”
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