Well, there we are then. Less than 24 hours after reports emerged that Sue Gray could be Keir Starmer’s next chief of staff, the lady herself has confirmed the story by resigning from the civil service. The Partygate investigator will however have to wait at least three months before she can start working for Labour, as per government guidelines. And, deliciously, she will also have to get final approval from, er, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Will he hold the process up?
Timings aside, it seems it is a fairly extraordinary decision for a senior civil servant to make. How, frankly, are ministers expected to trust their mandarins if they are going to defect to the Opposition? ‘We’re a joke’ said one despairing official to Steerpike, ‘I’ve completely lost respect for her.’
Gray’s decision to move into party politics throws a sharp relief on her Partygate inquiry, which will now be seen in a much more partisan light. It’s become the main talking point at the Tory away day with MPs smelling something fishy, Johnsonites will no doubt cite it as proof that their man was nobbled by a civil servant stitch-up. Already some MPs are saying this throws the privileges committee investigation into question.
The Conservative MP WhatsApp group has certainly been animated on the topic and sharing links of the news. Paul Holmes said ‘There are plenty of ex-spads on this group who would like to say what we think on this’. ‘And ex-ministers’ replied Damian Green, to which Boris Johnson retorted ‘And ex-PMs.’ Both men have had their run-ins with Gray in the past…
As for Starmer, hiring Gray might not be the coup that it’s all cracked up to be – is it grown up politics to endanger the impartiality of the civil service in such a public way? What’s more, given Gray has experience of how government works rather than the path to winning power, does it suggest an air of complacency from the Labour leader?
Mr S though only has one question: who’s bringing the karaoke machine to her leaving party?
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