Davies has in the past donated part of his wealth to the Labour Party, of which he had been a long-term supporter. His appointment as BBC chairman sparked allegations of cronyism from Opposition political parties - Davies' wife Sue Nye was a private secretary of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the pair are known to be good friends. Defenders of the appointment pointed out that Davies had been selected by a panel independent of Government. It has been suggested that the behaviour of Davies and Greg Dyke during the David Kelly affair was in part due to a wish to demonstrate their independence of government. Since his resignation, he has become somewhat of a critic of the then Labour government.