There is “no reason to believe” Sue Gray was not impartial when she investigated partygate, a British cabinet minister has said as the former civil servant heads for a top job in the UK Labour party.
Meanwhile, Labour party leader Keir Starmer has declined to say when he first approached Ms Gray amid a Tory outcry at the appointment.
Sue Gray is a top civil servant in the UK and narrowly missed out on becoming head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service in recent years. Ms Gray is originally from the North and ran a pub outside Newry in the 1980s with husband Bill Conlon, a country and western singer from Co Down.
Boris Johnson and allies have used Ms Gray’s plans to become Mr Starmer’s chief of staff to try to discredit her probe into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street, as well as a UK parliament inquiry into whether the former British prime minister lied to MPs with his denials.
Some Johnson loyalists have blamed Ms Gray’s partygate report for his downfall after she found there was a “failure of leadership and judgment” in No 10 during his premiership.
But UK science secretary Michelle Donelan denied there was reason to believe Ms Gray was not impartial.
“She was a leading civil servant who obviously swore and accepted the civil service code in which one of those key requirements is impartiality,” the UK government minister told Sky News.
“I think she was impartial, I have no reason to believe she wasn’t.”
But, she continued, “I think what people are mainly concerned about here is what process has taken place for her to acquire this new job, have talks taken place when potentially they shouldn’t have, etc?”
Mr Starmer insisted he had “absolutely no contact” with Ms Gray as she carried out her partygate probe.
'When did you approach her?'@KeirStarmer refuses to be drawn on when he first approached Sue Gray to be his chief of staff when asked by @NickFerrariLBC on #CallKeir. pic.twitter.com/agIi1N1iKj
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He declined to say when he first contacted the senior civil servant about joining his team when pressed repeatedly, saying only that “it was recent” and after his former chief of staff left in October last year.
“I’ve been looking for a chief of staff for a little while now, but Sue will lay that out, but there’s nothing improper at all,” the Labour leader said during a phone-in on LBC Radio.
He stressed that the appointment is yet to be finalised, adding “we haven’t agreed terms” yet.
Ms Gray is expected to submit a formal request on Monday to take on the role when she puts in her application to the UK parliament’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba).
Acoba can advise waiting periods before civil servants start other jobs and the Prime Minister ultimately makes the final decision.
Ms Gray is expected to await the watchdog’s decision before taking up the position.
Mr Starmer has faced pressure from others in British government to publish his messages with his potential future chief of staff.
A Labour frontbencher described the Conservative backlash over the appointment as “sour grapes” and accused critics of spouting “crackpot conspiracy theories”.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting pointed to precedents of civil servants moving into party political jobs, saying “this is not unusual”.
“She is a professional civil servant who’s worked well with Labour and Conservative ministers. She has not breached confidences, there’s no reason to expect she will do so now.
“I can understand why there’s some sour grapes that good people are now wanting to work with Labour because they are hoping and thinking we might be the next government.”
Mr Streeting also rejected claims that Ms Gray’s probe brought down Mr Johnson, “unless she packed the booze into the suitcase and wheeled it into No 10”.
