Andrea Leadsom accused of 'misleading' claims on her CV

There are suggestions she may not have actually been an investment banker

Andrea Leadsom (Reuters)

Andrea Leadsom does not have claimed experience as an investment banker despite suggestions that she managed billions of pounds, it has been alleged.

An investigation by The Times newspaper says that during her time at Invesco Perpetual, Ms Leadsom was only approved by the financial services regulator for three months.

This approval is required for any roles dealing with funds or clients.

One of her supporters, Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, has said she was responsible at one point for “for managing hundreds of people and billions of pounds”.

In the House of Commons she has also spoken of “managing the investment banks team at Barclays”.

But a former colleague, Robert Stephens, told the website Reaction that “she did not manage any teams, large or small, and she certainly did not manage any funds”.

Mr Stephens added that Ms Leadsom “had allowed the impression to arise that she has finance management skills and experience which qualify her for senior posts in government”.

This allegation related to her time at Invesco Perpetual from 1999 to 2009.

It is also alleged by The Times that during her time at De Putron Fund Management Ltd from 1997 to 1999 she was registered as “marketing director” rather than a fund managing role.

A spokesperson for Ms Leadsom said: “It looks as though the issue is that anyone who reads Andrea’s CV and attaches a lot of weight to that particular role may actually be under some slight misapprehension as to what it was she actually did.”

Tory MP Penny Mordaunt, a supporter of Ms Leadsom, claimed this morning that the allegations were a deliberate attempt to undermine Ms Leadsom's campaign for Tory leader.

“This is a totally bogus article that she was not given the right to reply to and, in case your listeners haven’t seen it, there’s a concerted effort to try and rubbish Andrea’s stellar career in financial services and business,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“This is a concerted effort to rubbish a stellar career and imply that she was just making the tea.”

Ms Leadsom is currently the second placed candidate in the race to be the next Conservative party leader. She trails Home Secretary Theresa May, the frontrunner.