The solicitors’ watchdog has said it will now investigate claims Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has made about his legal career.
The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) initially said there was “no need to take any action” after Mr Reynolds was accused of misrepresenting his past work as a lawyer.
The business secretary worked for Addleshaw Goddard LLP in Manchester as a trainee solicitor before he was elected as Labour MP in 2010 and never qualified as a solicitor.
Mr Reynolds has been accused of describing himself as a solicitor on several occasions – including on his LinkedIn page, in the Commons and on an old constituency website that is no longer online – when he had actually only worked as a trainee.
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The SRA contacted the business secretary in January about an error on his LinkedIn profile which was then corrected, it is understood, and the regulator said that having considered “all factors involved, there is no need for us to take any action.”
However, in a fresh statement issued today, a spokesperson for the SRA said: “We looked at that issue at the time we became aware of it and contacted Mr Reynolds about the profiles.
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“The materials were corrected, and we closed the matter with no further action based on all the evidence we had at the time.
“However, we’ve now become aware of further information, so we will look at this.”
The SRA’s fresh decision comes after shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick wrote to the SRA asking it to investigate, saying it was “critical to maintaining public confidence in the profession”.
“A failure to act would risk the impression of double standards and a weakening of the legal framework,” he added.
He has also urged Sir Keir Starmer to take action against Mr Reynolds, saying: “As a former director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer doesn’t need to wait – he should be able to judge from the evidence before him that Reynolds doesn’t have a leg to stand on and sack him.”
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Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith also wrote to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, asking him to open an investigation into potential breaches of the ministerial code.
Labour sources have previously suggested the reference to Mr Reynolds being a solicitor on the LinkedIn profile was “human error” and that he did not manage the profile.
They also pointed out that the business secretary has referred to himself as a “trainee solicitor” on a number of occasions, including when he visited his previous law firm in 2023 and posted about it on Instagram.
The Labour Party has been approached for comment.
