A former Conservative minister is expected to be made chairman of the transport authority for the north as Grant Shapps seeks to counter the influence of Labour’s metro mayors.
Lord McLoughlin, the former Tory chairman, is in the final round of interviews to run Transport for the North (TfN), the statutory body set up to advise ministers on the region’s rail, road and bus needs.
McLoughlin, 64, did not deny he was seeking the £60,000-a-year role when reached by phone last night. A friend said it would be inappropriate to comment.
Insiders fear that his appointment would represent a ministerial power grab and another case of cronyism as the government tries to sideline TfN. Last month Shapps, 53, the transport secretary, stopped paying the body — whose board includes all the northern mayors — to develop Northern Powerhouse Rail, a line across the Pennines.
Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, described that move as “worrying” attempt to weaken the region politically. “Not only did we lose out on infrastructure, we got silenced as well,” he said. “There’s clearly a number of people in Whitehall who don’t like the idea of the north having a stronger voice.”
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McLoughlin served as transport secretary under David Cameron and party chairman under Theresa May. A former farm worker and miner, the former Derbyshire Dales MP was nominated for a life peerage by Boris Johnson last year.
He will appear before a panel next week alongside his rival for the post, Lucy Armstrong, a consultant with expertise in private equity and headhunting who chairs the Port of Tyne. A civil servant described Armstrong as a relative unknown who would inevitably lose out.
The source also highlighted a potential conflict of interest: McLoughlin remains chairman of Airlines UK, the lobbying group.
The source said: “The DfT are trying to parachute in their own candidate by putting McLoughlin up against a non-entity. The plan is to mute the Labour metro mayors on the board. But in the current climate you cant hide the smell, and people are gonna see this as another jobs for the boys appointment.”
A DfT spokesman said: “These accusations are entirely disingenuous. Recruitment of the TfN chair is solely a responsibility for the TfN board. Ministers are not involved in the process.”
