Andrea Leadsom CV: Tory hopeful's former colleague disputes claim MP was a banker

Tory leadership hopeful Andrea Leadsom exaggerated her role at a bank on her CV, a former colleague has claimed.

Ms Leadsom has faced criticism over claims she was dishonest about her previous roles before entering politics.

Robert Stephens, who worked with Mrs Leadsom at Invesco Perpetual, said she had exaggerated her role at the company.

He told Channel 4 news: "What irritated me was somebody projecting themselves as being somebody in a senior investment management role in a major organisation when actually she wasn’t.

"People add credibility when they think of a senior investment officer... Enormous responsibility for massive amounts of money, taking daily investment management decisions and therefore speaking with some authority on those topics.

"Andrea Leadsom wasn’t that."

Ms Leadsom has previously refuted claims that she had exaggerated aspects of her career in the City, claiming her CV was "absolutely" accurate.

But Mr Stephens insists that is not the case, claiming Ms Leadsom performed a part-time administrative role for the chief investment officer.

He added: "The sort of thing she worked on was negotiating the remuneration packages of senior fund manager, for example.

"She was sort of in charge of pay and rations as one of my former colleagues put it. A very important job, but not a job that entitles you to call yourself either a banker or an investment manager.

"It’s just an important administrative job, the sort of thing that a chief investment officer would welcome having an assistant to handle."

Mr Stephens added that he did not see Ms Leadsom as an "ideal candidate" to become Prime Minister when David Cameron steps down.

He said: "The idea of somebody who has the tendency to allow information to go out into the public domain which is not an accurate representation of their responsibilities, is not in my book an ideal person to be in the most senior political post of the country to be Prime Minister. It’s not ideal."

Ms Leadsom responded in an interview with Channel 4 saying she didn't know Mr Stephens and that she was a senior investment officer at Invesco.

The Evening Standard has approached Ms Leadsom for further comment.

She has previously told the BBC that criticism of her CV is "ridiculous".

In 2010, she told MPs that she had "been in investment banking and funds management for 23 years”.

The contest between Ms Leadsom and Theresa May to decide who will be the next Prime Minister is expected to be resolved by September 9.

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