The Labour leader has said ministers are ‘trying to resurrect’ the fallout over the appointing of Gray as they don’t have anything to say about the cost of living crisis.
It was reported in March that Keir Starmer planned to appoint the government’s former ethics chief as his own chief of staff. Gray had produced the report into the lockdown-busting parties during the pandemic when Boris Johnson was PM.
Now she is back in the headlines, as a report is set to be published determining whether she had broken rules when meeting Labour officials to discuss a role in the party.
Starmer claims he ‘had no discussions’ with the former senior civil servant while she was investigating Boris Johnson and Partygate ‘whatsoever.’
“I’m confident she hasn’t broken any of the rules. Whenever a senior civil servant leaves the Civil Service there is always a process that they have to go through, that is the process she is going through, quite rightly,” Starmer told BBC Breakfast.
“The government is trying to resurrect a story about Sue Gray, maybe because they don’t want to talk about the cost-of-living crisis, which actually is the thing that most people are most concerned about,” he added.
On May 2, the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said that the former civil servant had ignored requests to reveal details of any meeting she may have held with Starmer before she was offered the position as his chief of staff.
The Tory press has naturally leapt all over the story. The Telegraph ran a headline claiming Gray ‘refused to cooperate with inquiry into the Labour role, say ministers.’ Meanwhile, the Sun insisted ‘Starmer’s ‘Mr Rules’ rep took a hammer blow last night has Gray refused to say when she started secret talks with Labour.’
The internal investigation has made submissions to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) and is reviewing the terms of Sue Gray’s departure and the offer of the new job.
The body will decide any recommendations “on any appropriate restrictions on the appointment.” It has also said an update will be provided in “due course.”
Labour has pledged to abide by any Acoba recommendation in relation to the hiring of Sue Gray.
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
Image credit: YouTube screen grab
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