Sue Gray disappoints… again

Is that it? After keeping half of SW1 on tenterhooks all day, it seems that Keir Starmer’s favourite gamekeeper-turned-poacher has done it again. Fifteen months ago, it was the partygate inquiry; today it’s the probe into Sue Gray’s spectacular defection to Labour. After much speculation, the government has today published a written statement about the Cabinet Office review into her appointment as Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff.

In a terse and pithy notice, the Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden wrote that ‘Ms Gray was given the opportunity to make representations as part of this process but chose not to do so.’ Others within government chose not to be so diplomatic, with several venting spleen this evening on Gray’s refusal to cooperate with the ‘update’ into her resignation or answer questions concerning the talks she had with Labour about taking up a party political role.

Ministers now intend to submit Sue Gray’s job switch to the Cabinet Office watchdog ACOBA, with Dowden highlighting Business Appointment Rules on concerns that ‘a former civil servant might improperly exploit privileged access to contacts in government or sensitive information.’