Labour ready to delay Sue Gray appointment amid growing row

Labour will delay the controversial appointment of Sue Gray as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff beyond the next election if that is the recommendation of a government committee, according to a member of the shadow cabinet.

Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, said the party would accept the guidance of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, even if it recommends Gray delays her start date by the maximum period of two years.

Her comments came amid an escalating row over the decision to hire Gray, a veteran civil servant who has worked at the heart of Downing Street for the past two years and oversaw the official inquiry into lockdown-breaking parties in No 10.

Allies of Boris Johnson, who resigned as prime minister soon after Gray’s report – though not as a result of it – have promised to scupper the appointment, while attention is now focused on whether Rishi Sunak might block it entirely.

Powell told the BBC’s Today programme: “The appointment itself hasn’t actually happened yet because the appointment is subject to approval by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). They will look at that those issues and they will make recommendations about, potentially, a period of gardening leave and other such issues.

“Sue Gray and Keir Starmer have made absolutely clear they will abide by those recommendations, which is not always the case in these situations.”

Labour confirmed on Thursday that Starmer had offered the role to Gray after an extensive search – a decision that Labour officials said showed how serious the party’s leader is about preparing for government. Some have likened it to Tony Blair’s appointment of the senior diplomat Jonathan Powell as his chief of staff in 1995.

The decision has caused fury among Conservatives, however, who say it taints the findings of Gray’s inquiry into the now-infamous Downing Street parties. Alexander Stafford, a Tory MP and former parliamentary aide to Johnson, said on Friday: “This really doesn’t pass the sniff test. It really undermines the work that she’s done, it undermines the civil service and really puts questions to Keir’s judgment.”

Stafford refused repeatedly to answer questions, however, on whether Gray was responsible for the parties herself, and his interview was cut short by the BBC presenter Nick Robinson.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, told GB News on Thursday the job offer “shows that there was a socialist cabal of Boris-haters who were delighted to remove him”.

Acoba will now issue recommendations over the circumstances under which Gray, who has already quit her job, can take up her new role. The committee’s rules say it can approve appointments with restrictions, including a ban on former civil servants lobbying government on behalf of their new employers, and having to wait for up to two years before taking the job.

The Times reported on Friday that it is likely Gray will serve out a “relatively short period of gardening leave” before starting in Starmer’s office.

The rules do not say that Acoba can recommend blocking the appointment altogether, although they add that the final decision is for the prime minister. Rishi Sunak was reported on Friday to be concerned that Gray could use “privileged information” from her Downing Street days to help Starmer.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office is reviewing whether Gray accepted the offer before informing the appointments watchdog.

Some Tories now want to cancel the cross-party inquiry into whether Johnson misled parliament over the parties – although this is unlikely to happen given it would require a separate vote in the House of Commons.

Many in the party are demanding to know when Labour first made contact with Gray, and whether they did so while her Partygate inquiry was ongoing. The Times reported that Starmer personally contacted Gray months ago after identifying her as the best person for the job.

Powell said on Friday she did not know when the party first made contact with Gray or whether Starmer would eventually publish a timeline of how the job offer was made.