IN JANUARY the Financial Reporting Council — the regulator in charge of corporate governance — said that too many firms are only “paying lip service” to the standards supposed to ensure good management of corporations.

But the government is unlikely to fulfil its regular promises to tighten up these regulations when its big donors seem to play fast and loose with the rules: this month online beauty retailer the Hut Group raised £1.9 billion in the biggest tech-related flotation on the Stock Exchange since 2015.

There are obvious “red flags” over how the firm is managed: Matthew Moulding founded the Hut Group in 2004 selling tax-free CDs online. It has grown into an e-commerce success, selling beauty and other products direct to consumers and providing commerce websites for other companies.

Moulding floated — sold many shares in — the Hut Group but retains much power over the new shareholders: the firm breaks a key City corporate governance code rule by Moulding being both executive chairman and CEO, arguably giving him too much power over shareholders.

Moulding also separately owns the firm’s property — so he is chairman, CEO and the company’s landlord. The Times reports that some of the banks that earned fees when the firm was floated, including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, are raising concerns over these governance issues.

The government regularly makes noises about reforming corporate governance, but proposals rarely become concrete. Theresa May promised to strengthen boards, so they better represented “stakeholders” and workers. The Carillion collapse led to many noises about company governance standards, but solid changes haven’t happened.

At the same time the biggest excitement on the stock market is the Hut Group launch, which doesn’t even match existing standards. Will this prompt the government to act?

It seems unlikely: Hut Group boss Moulding’s other company, CEND Ltd, has given the Tories £300,000 since 2017. Moulding stands personally to gain several hundred million from the float, which will give him plenty of spare cash to make further donations.