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LONDON — Sue Gray broke Whitehall’s strict impartiality rules as she discussed leaving the civil service to become opposition leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, according to the British government.
In a parting shot at Gray, a long-serving official who led a damning probe into Boris Johnson’s administration before making the leap to Labour, Cabinet Office Minister Jeremy Quin said Gray had committed a “prima facie” breach of the Civil Service Code in her discussions about the job.
“It is right that we maintain the principle of confidentiality with respect to individual personnel matters,” Quin said. “However, I am sure the House will agree with me that the facts in this case, when compared to the rules and guidance in place for civil servants, speak for themselves, and that there is a public interest in ensuring that the Civil Service Code is adhered to.”
Gray’s appointment has raised eyebrows in Whitehall — which prizes the impartiality of its civil servants — and incensed some Conservatives, particularly supporters of Johnson.
Gray led a hard-hitting investigation into a spate of coronavirus rule-breaking parties that went on in government on Johnson’s watch. At the time she left government, she was second permanent secretary at the Department for Levelling Up.
Westminster’s revolving door watchdog Acoba said Friday that there was “no evidence” Gray used her Whitehall role to favor the opposition party. It cleared her to join Starmer’s office, while imposing a six-month cooling-off period, meaning she can start work in September.
But, in a new detail seized on by the government, Acoba also confirmed Gray had contact with the opposition party for four months before the initial story on her planned hiring broke, and also had “subsequent brief informal conversations … where she was updated on their developing plans.”
Gray, Quin said Monday, “did not inform ministers or the Civil Service of these interactions at any point prior to her resignation.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “All rules were complied with. The Acoba process makes that clear. This statement is a political stunt by a Tory government out of ideas and out of road.”
