Sue Gray is set to become Sir Keir's Chief of Staff after she was cleared to start working in Whitehall in September. Chown/PA
Sir Keir Starmer was accused of lying on Monday after an official investigation cast doubt on the Labor leader's claims that “nothing unacceptable” happened during his meetings with Sue Grey.
< p>The Whitehall investigation concluded that Ms Grey, who was investigating partygate, violated civil service rules due to “undeclared contacts” between her and the Labor Party last year.
She is to become Sir Keir's chief of staff after last week when Acoba, Whitehall's appointments office, cleared her to start in September.
But a separate Cabinet investigation found that Ms Grey, who declined to testify to a government inquiry, violated the Civil Service Code because of her contacts with Labor prior to her resignation in March.
This the discovery contradicted Sir Keir's comments just days after her resignation, when he told LBC Radio, “I've been looking for the chief of staff for a while, but Sue will talk about it, but there's nothing improper about it.”
On Monday evening, a source at the conservatory said: “Sir Keir Starmer said nothing untoward happened. Both he, as a former civil servant, and Ms. Gray knew the rules inside out and still broke them.
“Labor must stop attacking senior civil servants who were investigating and publish every detail of their assembly that breaks the rules.”
Sir Keir's spokesman said the Tory allegations were “completely untrue” and noted that According to Akoba, the meetings were in order. “/>
The announcement of the results of the Cabinet investigation came in the form of a written ministerial statement. Jeremy Quinn, Cabinet Minister, said: “This civil service-led process has shown that the Civil Service Code has been violated prima facie as a result of undeclared contact between Ms Gray and the Leader of the Opposition.
“Rules and the instructions governing the behavior of civil servants are clear and transparent. It is very unfortunate that events happened in this way.”
The Labor Party called the Cabinet investigation “Mickey Mouse nonsense”. The spokesman said: “All the rules were followed. The Acoba process makes this clear. This statement is a political ploy by the Tory government, devoid of ideas and without a path.
“It says everything you need to know about the Tories: they spent weeks wasting time on this Mickey Mouse nonsense, refusing to investigate serious allegations of sexual assault against their London mayor challenger Daniel Korsky.”
Mr Korsky, a former Downing Street councilor, withdrew from the race for the Conservative candidate last week after it was alleged he molested television producer number 10 a decade ago. Korski 'strongly' denies.
On Friday, Acoba recommended that Ms Gray have a six-month reflection period from the day she left public service before she takes up her new position in the Labor Party, which will allow it to start work in two months.
< p>According to evidence given to the appointments committee, Sir Keir raised the possibility of Ms. Gray joining his team when he called her at the end of October last year. She told the committee she was “open to the possibility” but did not receive a formal job offer until March 2, the day she stepped down.
Partygate investigation commissioned by Boris Johnson by Ms Gray , when it was in #10, was published last May.
The six most killer quotes from Sue Gray's report
On Monday, Downing Street said the investigation being carried out after someone left the Civil Office was unprecedented. Service, but downplays suggestions that it was politically motivated.
Asked why the Civil Service Code was found to have been violated “on the face of it” [“on the face of it”), Rishi Sunak's spokesman said it was because the officials conducting the investigation “could not speak directly to Mr. -Joy Grey” and relied on other information to be submitted.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union representing senior officials, tweeted: “Investigation with no rules or precedents. Is it any wonder she refused to participate, which was my strong advice?”
Acoba ruled that it saw “no evidence” that Ms Gray's decision-making or impartiality was “impaired” during service in Whitehall.< /p>
Government figures lobbied the committee to introduce a waiting period of 12 months following complaints that Ms Gray had joined the Labor leader after she took charge of the party's investigation.
But while Lord Pickles, Acoba's chairman and fellow Conservative, said he “shared” some of the concerns raised by the departments about the potential risk to public service integrity from her change of job, he dismissed the call for a longer reprieve.
Recent Comments