Business secretary accused of false CV claim to be a solicitor
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been accused of falsely claiming that he was a solicitor before being elected as an MP, despite only being a trainee.
The cabinet minister – who is responsible for the UK’s businesses and international trade – has previously described himself as a solicitor, including on his LinkedIn profile, according to the political blog Guido Fawkes, a constituency website, and in the House of Commons.
The professional social media site now describes Reynolds as a “trainee solicitor” at the Addleshaw Goddard law firm in Manchester between August 2009 and May 2010 – as he quit to run for Parliament before qualifying.
Reynolds also does not appear on the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) online register.
Labour sources described the LinkedIn issue as a human or admin error from Reynolds’ office, and said his former constituency website was not written by him.
They also claimed there were countless examples of Reynolds describing himself as a trainee solicitor, including an Instagram post from April 2023 which he captioned: “I enjoyed going back to my old law firm Addleshaw Goddard… I learned so much there and still have many good friends and memories from being a trainee solicitor.”
Reynolds’s current MP website states: “I was delighted to be offered a training contract to become a solicitor with Addleshaw Goddard LLP in Manchester.”
It later states that he “resigned my legal career” on becoming MP for Stalybridge and Hyde.
Speaking in the Commons in 2014 in a debate on the high speed rail bill, Reynolds told MPs he “worked as a solicitor in Manchester city centre”, meaning he would “travel into Manchester every day… but it was relatively common at some point in the day to receive a message saying that I needed to go to Birmingham, London, Leeds or elsewhere”.
However, Labour defended this as the MP making a “very quick passing reference to being a commuter” rather than “discussing his professional background”.
Commenting on X, formerly Twitter, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, posted: “Reynolds was never a solicitor. Like the Chancellor, the Business Secretary fabricated his CV.”
It comes after the BBC revealed Rachel Reeves’ LinkedIn exaggerated the length of time she worked at the Bank of England, and that she and colleagues were investigated over use of expenses while a senior manager at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) in the late 2000s.
Reeves’ spokesperson said the LinkedIn inaccuracy was an administrative error by her team, that she had no knowledge of the investigation, and left HBOS on good terms.
Shadow business and trade secretary Andrew Griffith also wrote on X: “In a Government run by lawyers, he [Reynolds] just wanted to fit in.
“Unfortunately, he’s still a business secretary with no business experience.”