Tory MPs furious at Keir Starmer hiring Sue Gray as Jacob Rees-Mogg calls her report ‘left-wing stitch-up’
Sue Gray #SueGray
Sue Gray faces an investigation into whether she will be allowed to join the Labour Party as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff after she secretly opened talks with the Opposition while serving as a senior civil servant.
Allies of Boris Johnson and Conservative MPs accused Ms Gray of undermining the integrity of her own report into “Partygate” by taking the Labour job.
Ms Gray, who has spent decades in the Civil Service, quit on Thursday with immediate effect when news of her talks with Sir Keir was leaked.
She has now applied to the watchdog which monitors the jobs taken by former ministers and senior mandarins for permission to take up her new role. Rishi Sunak will have the final say, although it remains unclear whether he has the power to block her from taking the job altogether.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office has launched an investigation into the circumstances of her unexpected resignation following concerns that none of her managers were told of the imminent switch.
A spokesman said: “We can confirm that Sue Gray has resigned from the post of Second Permanent Secretary in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This was accepted by the department Permanent Secretary and Cabinet Secretary with immediate effect. We will not be commenting further on individual personnel matters. We are reviewing the circumstances under which she resigned.”
Labour said in a statement: “The Labour Party has offered Sue Gray the role of chief of staff to the Leader of the Opposition. We understand she hopes to accept the role subject to the normal procedures. Keir Starmer is delighted she is hoping to join our preparations for government and our mission to build a better Britain.”
Multiple Tory MPs responded with fury while Mr Johnson’s backers suggested that Ms Gray had shown herself to be politically motivated when she compiled the damning report into lockdown parties which catapulted her to national fame.
A source close to the former Prime Minister said the validity of the investigation was “now completely destroyed” and added: “Partygate was a deliberate and manufactured plot to oust a Brexit-backing Conservative prime minister.”
Simon Clarke, the former Levelling Up Secretary, added: “Sue Gray has a long history of public service, but to move into such a significant political post given her pivotal role in events over the last year will raise a whole host of questions. Neutrality stood at the core of her credibility.” And Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “So much for an impartial civil service, the Gray report now looks like a left-wing stitch-up against a Tory prime minister.”
Ms Gray indirectly criticised the former Prime Minister in her report for “failures of leadership and judgment” during the pandemic, when No 10 and Cabinet Office staff were allowed to hold social gatherings at a time when the general public was strictly banned from socialising.
She was the Government’s ethics chief for a number of years, leading investigations into the behaviour of multiple ministers who were accused of misconduct, and has also worked in Northern Ireland’s civil service. Ms Gray has never previously held a party-political role.