Sue Gray breached civil service code by talking to Starmer, rules government

Finding of ‘prima facie’ violation dismissed by Labour as ‘Mickey Mouse nonsense’

Sue Gray breached the civil service code by talking to Keir Starmer about a job with Labour four months before leaving Whitehall, a government investigation has found.

A Labour spokesman said the finding by the Cabinet Office was “Mickey Mouse nonsense” and a “political stunt” by the Tories. “All rules were complied with,” the spokesman said.

The Partygate investigator was cleared by an appointments watchdog to start as the Labour leader’s chief of staff after a six-month cooling off period from when she quit as a senior civil servant in March.

But a Cabinet Office probe has found that Ms Gray broke the rules by discussing the top Labour job in October 2022, while she was still working for the civil service.

“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,” said Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin in a statement on Monday.

The Tory minister added: “The rules and guidance that govern the conduct of civil servants are clear and transparent. It is deeply unfortunate that events have transpired in this way.”

Mr Quin said in the written ministerial statement that civil servants must declare all relevant outside interests “as soon as they arise”. He said the policy advises 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”.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) said on Friday it “shared some of the concerns” raised by the government over the potential risk to the civil service’s integrity her move to Labour poses.

However, the appointments watchdog said it had seen “no evidence” that her decision making or impartiality was “impaired” while serving in Whitehall. It only advised a six-month pause from her last day, meaning she can start with Sir Keir in early September.

Keir Starmer ‘delighted’ Sue Gray is joining in September (PA Wire)

Some furious Tories had urged Acoba to impose a waiting period of at least a year amid anger over Ms Gray’s move to join the Labour leader after investigating Boris Johnson over lockdown breaches in No 10.

Johnson loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg – given a knighthood in his resignation honours – claimed Ms Gray’s discussions with Mr Starmer showed that there was a “socialist cabal of Boris haters” in Whitehall.

A Labour spokesman said Monday’s statement by the Cabinet Office was “Mickey Mouse nonsense” and a “political stunt by a Tory government out of ideas and out of road”. He said the Acoba statement on Friday made clear that all rules were followed.

The spokesman claimed “it says everything you need to know about the Tories that they have spent weeks wasting time on this Mickey Mouse nonsense” while “refusing to investigate” groping allegations against former London mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski.

Sue Gray is set to take on a senior Labour Party role in September (PA Archive)

Mr Korski, a former Downing Street adviser during David Cameron’s tenure, pulled out of the race last week to be the Tory mayoral candidate after it was alleged he groped TV producer Daisy Goodwin in No 10 a decade ago. The Cabinet Office has ruled out investigating the claims.

Downing Street acknowledged that it was unprecedented for an inquiry to be conducted after someone has left the civil service, but played down suggestions it was politically motivated.

Quizzed on why the civil service code was found to have been “prima facie” broken, meaning at first sight, the spokesman said it was because officials conducting the probe “weren’t able to speak directly to Ms Gray” and relied on other information to come to the judgement.

Ciaran Martin, a professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnick School of Government, said the Cabinet Office finding was “very silly” because the case against Ms Gray was not proved and the government had not produced “evidence of any kind”.

Sir Keir accepted Acoba’s six-month pause and said he was “delighted” that Ms Gray will be joining as his chief of staff. “She brings unrivalled experience on how the machinery of government works and is a woman of great integrity.”

Labour sources said Ms Gray formally accepted the job offer on Friday after resigning in March, paving the way for the Acoba advice to be published.

Ms Gray said Sir Keir raised the possibility of joining his team when he called her in late October 2022, according to the Acoba document. But she told the team there was no formal job offer until 2 March – the day she resigned.

Along with her Partygate probe, Ms Gray has held a number of senior roles in the civil service, including leading the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team. Her final role in Whitehall was as second permanent secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.