Sir Keir Starmer could have “serious questions to answer” if he was talking to Sue Gray while she was advising the MPs investigating partygate, a senior minister has told Sky News.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was speaking as the cabinet office is set to publish an “update into the circumstances leading to the resignation of a senior civil servant” later today – which is understood to be about Ms Gray’s shift to Labour.
Reports overnight claim the former senior civil servant held talks with Labour while she was still part of the propriety and ethics team, which advised the committee of MPs looking into COVID gatherings inside Number 10.
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Mr Cleverly said: “I haven’t seen the report, it’s a completely independent report, it’s the body that looks at senior appointment.
“If that is what the report says, I do think Keir Starmer has got some serious questions to answer.”
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Labour has disputed the account, however, with one source telling Sky News: “The propriety and ethics team handled requests from the privileges committee, reporting to minister for cabinet office, Jeremy Quin.
“Sue Gray was not working in that team.”
Sky News revealed earlier this year that Sir Keir was considering appointing Ms Gray as his chief of staff.
The report coming out from government today will inform a decision made by the appointments watchdog ACOBA, which will collate its own evidence and then make a suggestion for the amount of time Ms Gray should take as gardening leave before joining the leader of the opposition’s team.
Ms Gray came to the fore when she led the Cabinet Office inquiry to establish what happened in Downing Street during the pandemic, with her putting together what became known as the “Sue Gray report”.
She was previously the director general of the propriety and ethics team between 2012 and 2018, and was then second permanent secretary to the Cabinet Office between 2021 and 2023, having worked with the Northern Ireland office team in the interim.
