Partygate civil servant Sue Gray could be barred from joining Labour for a year as ‘vindictive’ Cabinet secretary Simon Case is accused of pushing for ban after she lifted the lid on excess in No10
- A Cabinet Office expected to allege that there was a conflict of interest in hiring
- Case accused of pushing for year ban after she lifted the lid on Partygate excess
Labour could be barred from employing Partygate civil servant Sue Gray for a year after a critical report into her hiring in which a central No10 figure was ‘instrumental’.
A Cabinet Office report into the opposition’s recruitment of Sue Gray by Sir Keir Starmer is expected to allege tomorrow that there was a conflict of interest due to her work at the time.
However Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has come in for criticism, with claims he pushed for the report to recommend a year’s grace period for the former director general of propriety and ethics.
Ms Gray’s report into Partygate revealed the sordid details of boozy breaches of lockdown rules in 2020 and 2021.
The former private secretary to Prince William was not singled out by the report but was investigated by police over events which took place in his private office.
A source told the Times Mr Case took a ‘vindictive’ interest in the Cabinet Office report, which will feed into a wider probe by the Advisory Committee on Business Ethics (Acoba).
But friends of the cabinet secretary denied the suggestion and said they had worked ‘constructively and professionally together for years’.
Acoba can only recommend sanctions but Labour has pledged to abide by its ruling if it deems rules were broken.
A Cabinet Office report into the opposition’s recruitment of Sue Gray is expected to claim tomorrow that there was a conflict of interest in the way due to her work at the time. However Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has come in for criticism, with claims he pushed for the report to recommend a year’s grace period for the former director general of propriety and ethics.
Acoba can only recommend sanctions but Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to abide by its ruling if it deems rules were broken
Conservatives are expected to demand to know when she was first approached by Labour to become Sir Keir’s chief of staff – and whether the appointment will go ahead if she is censured.
The move by Ms Gray, who carried out the Partygate inquiry into Boris Johnson’s behaviour in Downing Street during the pandemic, triggered a fresh row over the neutrality of the Civil Service and angered Mr Johnson’s supporters.
Now insiders predict that the Cabinet Office will conclude that the talks were kept secret from Whitehall officials in breach of the Civil Service code.
The Tories are planning to address the ‘issues raised’ and ‘lessons learned’ in a written statement laid before the Commons on Tuesday.
It follows reports last week that Ms Gray – who was recruited to head Labour’s efforts to ‘transition’ into Government – could be banned from working for the party until after the next Election, which is expected by autumn 2024.
She resigned after news of her hiring leaked in March before her new job had been discussed with the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, the body that vets the roles civil servants take after leaving Whitehall. The watchdog could recommend a cooling-off period of up to two years because of the seniority of her role as Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office, it is claimed.
Mr Case was brought into government by Mr Johnson in 2020 to oversee the Covid response.
When the ‘Partygate’ affair erupted in late 2021, he was tasked by Mr Johnson with leading an internal inquiry as he sought to quell the growing political storm.
Just a week later however, he was forced to recuse himself from the investigation after it was reported that there had been a gathering in his private office and the job was handed to Sue Gray.
Mr Case was also alleged to have been involved in sorting out the financial arrangements surrounding Mr Johnson’s Downing Street refurbishment, dubbed ‘Wallpapergate’.
And he was accused of ‘failing to stand up for the values of the Civil Service’ by Sir David Normington, former head of the Home Office, following the sacking of Treasury chief Sir Tom Scholar by Liz Truss.
Whitehall’s most senior civil servant has also been linked to the row over a loan to Boris Johnson, after it was revealed he discussed the matter with Richard Sharp.
Sharp was forced to quit as BBC chairman last week after a critical report into his appointment.
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