It’s not nor is it even clear if he got any favour in getting his new gig.
None of that actually matters, it’s how it looks and it looks for a casual observer like he got the gig because he’s her mate. Trust in politicians is at an all time low - Labour promised to do things differently - you can see how it doesn’t look that way even if there has been no interference etc.
It’s much harder being in the firing line, you do 1000 things and you do 999 brilliantly, 1 is questionable and you’ve got to defend yourself. It much harder than pointing fingers from the side because you’ve only got to wait for that 1 thing to happen when you are just pointing fingers.