Sue Gray did break the Civil Service code, according to a Cabinet Office investigation released by the government. The Partygate prober-in-chief has today been found to have breached the guidelines which she did so much to uphold during her six years as head of the government’s, er, Proprietary and Ethics team. Gray began negotiations with Labour in October of last year and thus violated the rules whereby individuals must declare all relevant outside interests to their line manager as soon as they arise.
Government advice states that individuals ‘should err on the side of caution when considering what to declare but the onus is on the individual to consider what might be relevant and declare it.’
Jeremy Quin, the Cabinet Office minister, said a civil inquiry found a ‘prima facie’ breach of the code about outside interests to be clear and transparent – meaning an apparent contravention of the rules based on first impressions. In a damning written ministerial statement, Quin confirmed that:
Given the exceptional nature of this case and the previous commitment by ministers to update the House, I can now confirm that the Cabinet Office process looking into the circumstances leading up to Ms Gray’s resignation has been concluded. As part of the process, Ms Gray was given the opportunity to make representations but chose not to do so. This process, led by the Civil Service, found that the Civil Service Code was prima facie broken as a result of the undeclared contact between Ms Gray and the Leader of the Opposition.
So much for ‘Mr Rules’, eh Sir Keir?
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