Owen Smith has changed an item on his CV after questions were raised about it.
The Guardian reports that the Labour leadership challenger had listed one of his former jobs on his website as "a director and member of the UK and Ireland board of Amgen," an American pharmaceutical company.
Smith did indeed work there — but the company denied to the newspaper that Smith sat on its board when contacted over tax, saying that "Owen Smith’s position at Amgen did not give him any involvement or influence on the topics raised here – he was an employee in the UK for 18 months and was not an officer of the company or board member."
Smith's camp countered that the term "board" was used as a "shorthand" term that reflected his seniority — but nonetheless have subsequently changed the CV on his website. "[Smith] was on the most senior director level in the UK, but they are only allowed to have one – in company terms – board and that is the USA, but it is a shorthand for what he did there," a spokesperson said.
Here's how it looked before:
And here's how it looks now:
It's a small but awkward mistep for the leftwing politician. He's running in the Labour leadership contest in an attempt to oust the incumbent Jeremy Corbyn — but Corbyn is considered the firm favourite among the party grassroots, despite comprehensively losing the confidence of the parliamentary party.
Smith has also been criticised by some on the left of the party for his links to the pharmaceutical industry and what this could theoretically mean for the NHS, though he insists that he supports a health service that is publicly owned and free at the point of use.
