Sue Gray Is Not Coming Back To Work For Starmer As Ex-Chief Of Staff ‘Rejects New Role’

Posted on 12/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Sue Gray is not coming back to work with the PM, HuffPost UK understands.

No.10 announced on October 6 that she was being made the prime minister’s envoy for nations and regions as part of a major Downing Street shake-up.

At the time, Starmer said he was “delighted” that she had accepted the newly-created role.

But it has now been confirmed that she will not be starting the job after all.

The prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday: “I can confirm she has now decided to not take up the role.

“Subsequent to that, we confirmed she was taking a break and I can now update she has decided not to take up the role following her break.”

They said she had already “played a vital role strengthening relations with nations and regions”, for which she had the PM’s thanks.

They did not say if she had been paid during her break between jobs.

No.10 said the envoy role will now be kept “under review”, adding: “Beyond that, respectfully, we won’t comment further on individual staffing matters.”

The comments come hours after a source close to the former chief of staff told the Financial Times: “Sue has taken a decision not to take the role. She’s going to focus on other things.

“She’s taken time to think about it properly, talking to stakeholders, but ultimately she’s decided she doesn’t want to do it.”

However, a cabinet minister told HuffPost UK that it had been No.10′s decision for her not to do the job.

Gray, who attracted national attention after leading the civil service’s partygate probe during Boris Johnson’s premiership, was appointed Starmer’s chief of staff when Labour was still in opposition.

She continued in the role after the election, but clashed with Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s director of strategy.

After weeks of No.10 turmoil, Gray was sacked and replaced by McSweeney.

She immediately went on what the PM’s official spokesman described as a “short” break and never returned to take up her new job.

In a statement in October, Gray said she was “pleased to accept the new envoy role.”

The PM also issued a statement saying he was “delighted she would continue to support our work”.

But the job change was seen by many as a demotion, especially as it was not clear exactly what the new role would entail – or if it would even be paid.

After weeks of silence from Gray, No.10 confirmed to HuffPost UK that she would not be coming back to work for the PM.

A Downing Street source then told the BBC: “We think she has made the right decision.”

Gray went on a “short break” after quitting as Starmer’s chief of staff, where she had been paid more than the prime minister with an annual salary of £170,000.

She did not attend a regional investment summit in mid-October, as she was taking “a bit of downtime” following an intense period in the spotlight, according to cabinet office minister Pat McFadden.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Starmer was planning to withdraw the job offer to Gray allegedly due to concerns about the media attention which could stop her from working effectively.

A government source told the newspaper: “Sue hasn’t been told for sure that the job is no longer on offer, but she has been warned that this is the direction of travel. The way some people are behaving towards her is really horrible.”

Too Much Drama Starmer: Can The PM’s No.10 Shake-Up Repair The ‘Shambles’ Of His First 100 Days In Power

Posted on 11/10/2024 by Boris Clair

No one ever said that being in government was easy. But few expected it to be quite as hard as Labour have made it look since the general election.

Keir Starmer today marks 100 days in power, a milestone moment that Liz Truss would have given her eye teeth to achieve.

In keeping with his ‘no drama Starmer’ image, he will spend it in 10 Downing Street rather than his grace-and-favour pile at Chequers. The problem for the prime minister is that his first three months in charge have seen rather more drama than he or his supporters would like.

Any honeymoon the new PM may have expected to enjoy on the back of his landslide election victory on July 4 is now well and truly over.

An opinion poll published last week showed that Labour’s lead over the effectively-leaderless Tories is now down to just one point, with Starmer himself now even more unpopular than Nigel Farage.

A succession of mis-steps, scandals and controversies have dogged his administration, effectively drowning out the work being done to implement Labour’s manifesto and deliver the “change” the party repeatedly promised the country during the election campaign.

“The first 100 days have been a shambles, to be frank,” one senior party figure told HuffPost UK.

“Keir’s come in on a platform of change and as far as the public is concerned they’ve been as bad as the Tories.”

The row over Starmer’s fondness for a freebie – including £20,000 for suits and glasses from Labour donor Lord Alli – has been a drag anchor on No.10′s recent attempts to get back on the front foot.

To try to finally get on top of the controversy, the PM announced earlier this month that he would be voluntarily paying back £6,000 for gifts – including tickets to see Taylor Swift at Wembley – received since the election.

But that seemed to fly in the face of Starmer’s earlier insistence he has done nothing wrong, while also inviting the media to ask other ministers if they would be following suit.

The blame for the payback gambit was laid at the door of Sue Gray, the PM’s chief of staff.

According to one insider, that was “the final nail in the coffin” for the former top civil servant, who was unceremoniously sacked as part of a wider shake-up which saw Morgan McSweeney, Gray’s arch-rival inside No.10, given her old job.

“Sue had to go because it just wasn’t working,” said one Labour source. “Hopefully with Morgan now calling the shots things will calm down and the government can actually get on with doing what it was they were elected to deliver.”

The Irishman, who co-ordinated Labour’s successful election campaign, has wasted little time in letting it be known that there will be plenty of changes to the way things are done in Downing Street from now on.

At the most recent political Cabinet meeting, McSweeney set out to Starmer’s top team what Labour has already done – including setting up GB Energy and kick-starting the re-nationalisation of the railways – to emphasise that it’s not all doom and gloom inside No.10.

“We’ll see more drive from the centre,” one of his allies told HuffPost UK. “We’ll be able to get across the PM’s aims and objectives in a way we haven’t so far.

“Morgan is just a much more political operator and he’ll be able to get the stuff Keir wants to do into the bloodstream of Westminster and the government as a whole.

“He also has a much stronger relationship with special advisers because he led the election campaign and people know what he wants to do. It will be quite a big change.”

Starmer himself is known to be deeply frustrated at the stuttering start his administration has made – another fault which has been laid at the door of Sue Gray, who was given the task of preparing Labour for government.

“I don’t think the plan for government was good,” one No.10 adviser said. “If it even exists, I’ve never even seen it. That made it all harder than it needed to be. That first 100 day grid of announcements just never really existed.

“Despite that there is good legislative stuff being done that will build up into the change that people will actually feel. As we get into the next 100 days and the next 1,000 days that will be the focus on the stuff we want to do.”

As well as the row over freebies, the decision to axe winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners has also presented Labour’s opponents with an open goal.

Despite the government’s protestations that they inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances from the Conservatives, the majority of voters believe that was the wrong choice at the wrong time.

The Budget on October 30 – which Starmer has already warned will be “painful” for the country – is now even more important than it already was.

One the one hand, it presents Labour with a golden opportunity to reclaim the political narrative and get back on the front foot.

However, anything which resembles George Osborne’s “omnishambles” Budget of 2012 will simply re-affirm the belief among many voters that this is a government that is out of its depth.

One Starmer aide insisted the prime minister is managing to remain calm despite the storms buffeting his government.

“He knows that politics goes in ups and downs,” he said. “We had the same thing in opposition, but he’s never been someone who takes the highs or the lows too dramatically. He won’t be too worried about individual polls.”

A cabinet minister said that whatever the challenges of government, they were nothing compared to the frustration of opposition.

He also insisted that with the Conservatives about to lurch to the right under either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch, there was still plenty for Labour to be positive about.

“It’s great to be back in power,” he said. “Yes, we’ve had a few rocky headlines, but there have also been announcements on things like foreign investment, renters’ reform and how we’ll make work pay.

“The Tory leadership race also shows that they have learnt nothing from the beating they took on July 4.”

But as Keir Starmer chalks up his first century of days in No.10, he knows the pressure is now on to turn the warm words of the election campaign into concrete achievements.

How Sue Gray Finally Paid The Price For Labour’s Nightmare First 100 Days In Power

Posted on 06/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer will chalk up 100 days as prime minister next Saturday.

He will do so without his now-former chief of staff Sue Gray, who today carried the can for the chaos which has engulfed the government since Labour’s landslide election victory just three months ago.

Although the official line from No.10 was that Gray resigned, HuffPost UK has learned that the PM ultimately decided that she had to go.

A senior Labour source said: “Change was needed. Things weren’t working properly. Better to do it now than let it drag on.”

It is understood that the final straw was the decision, blamed on Gray, that Starmer should pay back around £6,000 for hospitality and gifts he has received from Labour supporters since becoming prime minister.

The move appeared to be an admission of guilt by the PM, and inevitably led to other ministers being asked whether they would be following suit. So far, none have done so.

“That was the nail in the coffin,” said one senior Labour figure.

Another insider added: “This is Keir’s usual pattern – something drifts on for a while and then he acts hard and ruthelessly.”

Gray has also been blamed for the new government’s complete failure to set the political weather since July 4.

As Starmer’s chief of staff in opposition, it was thought that she would use her vast experience from her time in the civil service to meticulously draw up and then implement Labour’s plan for government.

“People are annoyed about the lack of preparation,” said one Downing Street source. “It’s actually unforgivable.”

Last month’s Labour conference – which Gray did not attend – was supposed to be a reset moment.

But the row over freebies for senior Labour figures has refused to go away, completely overshadowing the government’s attempts to get back on the front foot.

Meanwhile, rumours about the bad blood among Starmer’s officials – in particular the long-running feud between Gray and the PM’s chief adviser, Morgan McSweeney – continued.

She acknowledged the damage that was doing in her resignation statement, in which she admitted that the speculation about her own position had become “a distraction to the government’s vital work”.

To add insult to injury for Gray, McSweeney has replaced her as chief of staff as part of a major shake-up inside No.10.

One government aide said: “Morgan’s the political equivalent of Yoda. He will be outstanding.

“He ran one of the most disciplined, strategic and successful election campaigns in history. People said we could never win the party back from the hard left – Morgan did it.”

Gray has not disappeared completely, and her new role as Starmer’s envoy for the nations and regions will be an important one, albeit far less influential than her previous job.

The Tories – many of whom have never forgiven Gray for her partygate report which ultimately led to Boris Johnson’s removal from office – can hardly believe their luck.

“Sue Gray was brought in to deliver a programme for government and all we’ve seen in that time is a government of self-service,” said a Conservative spokesperson. “The only question that remains is who will run the country now?”

With a parliament-defining Budget barely three weeks away, Starmer needs to quickly show that he is the one calling the shots. His decision to oust Sue Gray is his first step towards doing just that.

Sue Gray Quits As Keir Starmer’s Chief Of Staff Amid Downing Street Chaos

Posted on 06/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Sue Gray has dramatically resigned as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff – sparking a major shake-up inside 10 Downing Street.

The announcement came following weeks of behind-the-scenes rows among the prime minister’s top team.

Gray said recent speculation about her future had become “a distraction to the government’s vital work”.

The former senior civil servant will now take up a new role as Starmer’s envoy for nations and regions.

She is being replaced as chief of staff by Morgan McSweeney, seen by many as her arch-rival in No.10, as part of a wider re-organisation inside No.10.

In a statement, the PM said: “I want to thank Sue for all the support she has given me, both in opposition and government, and her work to prepare us for government and get us started on our programme of change.

“Sue has played a vital role in strengthening our relations with the regions and nations. I am delighted that she will continue to support that work.”

Gray said: “After leading the Labour party’s preparation for government and kickstarting work on our programme for change, I am looking forward to drawing on my experience to support the prime minister and the cabinet to help deliver the government’s objectives across the nations and regions of the UK.

“In addition to building a close partnership with devolved governments, I am delighted this new role will mean continuing to work alongside and support the prime minister, deputy prime minister, the cabinet and the mayors on English devolution.

“It has been an honour to take on the role of chief of staff, and to play my part in the delivery of a Labour government.

“Throughout my career my first interest has always been public service. However in recent weeks it has become clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction to the government’s vital work of change.

“It is for that reason I have chosen to stand aside, and I look forward to continuing to support the prime minister in my new role.”

Gray has been accused of failing to lay the groundwork for Labour’s first 100 days in office, during which time the government has been hit by a series of gaffes and controversies.

One senior official told HuffPost UK: “People are annoyed about the lack of preparation for government.”

As part of the wider No.10 shake-up, Downing Street officials Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson are becoming deputy chiefs of staff.

Nin Pandit, who had been director of the Downing Street policy unit from November 2022, becomes Starmer’s principal private secretary.

And former political journalist James Lyons has been appointed No.10′s head of strategic communications.

Starmer said: “I’m really pleased to be able to bring in such talented and experienced individuals into my team. This shows my absolute determination to deliver the change the country voted for.”

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “In fewer than 100 days Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government has been thrown into chaos – he has lost his chief of staff who has been at the centre of the scandal the Labour Party has been engulfed by.

“Sue Gray was brought into deliver a programme for government and all we’ve seen in that time is a government of self-service. The only question that remains is who will run the country now?”

Is The Party Over Already? Keir Starmer Aims To Get Back On The Front Foot After Worst Week Yet

Posted on 20/09/2024 by Boris Clair

This year’s Labour conference should, all things considered, be one gigantic celebration.

For the first time since 2009, the party is gathering in Liverpool this weekend with its leader in 10 Downing Street.

But less than three months after securing a landslide general election victory, Keir Starmer is already a man under pressure due to a series of missteps which have even led some to question whether he is really up to the job.

The controversial decision to cut winter fuel payments from 10 million pensioners was taken shortly after Labour took office and continues to dog the prime minister.

A simmering briefing war against Starmer’s chief of staff, Sue Gray, burst into the open this week when it was revealed she earns more than the PM – angering government aides who accuse her of blocking their calls for a pay rise.

Meanwhile, Starmer’s liking for freebies – more than £100,000-worth of hospitality, concert tickets, clothes and glasses in the last five years – has seen him dubbed “Free Gear Keir” by his gleeful opponents.

Even his wife, Victoria, was dragged into the row when it emerged Labour donor Lord Alli had also paid for £5,000-worth of clothes for her.

After several days of Starmer defending the arrangement, Labour sources finally confirmed on Friday night that he would no longer accept clothes from donors.

“Because Keir only became an MP in 2015, he lacks political experience,” one Labour veteran told HuffPost UK. “And there’s no one around about him giving him the right advice.”

Another senior party figure said: “The extent to which he takes freebies is disgraceful really. It smacks of arrogance.”

A former frontbencher added: “They are so shit it is really hard to believe.”

Even party loyalists like Baroness Harman have been critical of the PM, in particular his decision to accept corporate hospitality so he can continue watching his team, Arsenal.

Starmer, who has had a season ticket at the Emirates for many years, says the cost to the taxpayer of providing him with security at matches would be too high, so he is saving the public purse by choosing to sit in the posh seats.

But speaking on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Harman said: “It’s not a hanging offence, but I think doubling down and trying to justify it is making things worse.

“You can just say it was probably a misstep, if I had my time again I wouldn’t do it and therefore I’m going to auction [it] for charity or something. I think at the moment he’s just got to get rid of every distraction he possibly can.”

Both Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria have been criticised for having clothes bought for them by a Labour donor.

Any hope Labour have that the public will see “frockgate” as a Westminster bubble issue are forlorn, according to Luke Tryl of the More in Common think-tank.

“In the focus groups which we regularly hold with a variety of voters from all over the country, we hear consistent anger about these kinds of issues,” he said.

“With the Tories, we kept hearing it was ‘one rule for them and one rule for everyone else’ but the overarching feeling is that all politicians are in it for themselves. That’s the real point here. These stories may well be dismissed as Westminster tittle-tattle, but they eat away at the most fundamental quality required for democracies to work effectively and that is trust.”

A senior government figure admitted that things are “a bit shaky” at the moment, but insisted the party conference is the perfect opportunity for Starmer and Labour to rebound.

“We have to use the conference to get beyond all of this,” he said. “We need to talk about the inheritance we were left by the Tories. The winter fuel decision and having to release people from prison are a hangover from what we were left.

“It’s not like people are being let out of jail because we want to let them out.

“And it’s a bit rich of the Tories to attack us when they just fought an election promising £12 million in welfare cuts.

“There’s no doubt it’s tough at the moment, but the important thing about conference is to stand up there, talk about why we won and what we’ll do to improve the country. We need to get back on the front foot.”

One cabinet minister took aim at the anonymous special advisers (SpAds) who went to the BBC to voice their unhappiness about Sue Gray’s wage packet.

“There’s obviously some leaks coming from No.10 and people saying things that shouldn’t be in the public domain,” they said. “It’s ill-discipline. Some of them probably are unhappy about their pay offers, but there’s a way to negotiate that and they shouldn’t be using journalists as therapists.

“Sue was brought in to do a job. She’s the chief of staff, so she can go to any meeting she wants. The criticism of her is unfair.”

Sue Gray, Starmer's chief of staff, has been criticised over her £170,000 salary. — Sue Gray, Starmer’s chief of staff, has been criticised over her £170,000 salary.

The Labour conference slogan is “Change Begins”, which aims to move beyond the gloomy messages which have been emanating from Downing Street since the election.

Standing in the No.10 garden last month, the prime minister told the country that “things will get worse before we get better” and that the Budget on October 30 will be “painful”.

He will strike a more upbeat tone in his keynote speech on Tuesday afternoon, which he will deliver before jetting off to a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York.

A close ally of the PM said: “He’ll talk about the good things we’ve already done, while reminding people again about what we were left by the Tories.

“But this is the first conference in 15 years in which we are the party of government – we shouldn’t forget what a change that is.

“It’s really important to remember that we won big, we’ve got a right to govern and we shouldn’t be blown off course by people who think that Labour have no right to be ever be in power.”

Starmer’s first 77 days in power have not always gone as he would have hoped when he stood on the steps of 10 Downing Street on July 5 promising to change the country.

He will hope, to coin a famous phrase, that things can only get better from now on.

Keir Starmer Forced To Declare He Is ‘In Control’ Despite Sue Gray And Freebies Rows

Posted on 19/09/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer has been forced to insist he remains “in control” of the government less than three months after taking office.

The prime minister has endured his toughest week since winning the general election amid a No.10 briefing war over the salary of his chief of staff, Sue Gray, and criticism of the £100,000 of hospitality he has accepted since 2019.

The rows have threatened to overshadow Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, which kicks off at the weekend.

It emerged yesterday that Gray saw her salary go up to £170,000 – more than the PM’s – after the election, angering government special advisers who accuse her of blocking higher wages for them.

In an interview with BBC South East political editor Charlotte Wright, Starmer was asked whether he has “got a grip” of his administration.

He said: “I’m completely in control. I’m focused and every day the message from me to the team is exactly the same, which is we have to deliver.

“We were elected on a big mandate to deliver change, I am determined that we are going to do that.”

Starmer was also forced to defend his decision to accept seats in a corporate box at the Emirates Stadium, home of his favourite football team, Arsenal.

The revelation followed the row over Starmer and his wife, Victoria, accepting thousands of pounds worth of clothes from the Labour peer and multi-millionaire party donor, Lord Alli.

The PM told BBC Yorkshire’s political editor, James Vincent: “Since I’ve been prime minister the security advice is don’t go in the stands, not least because it’ll cost a fortune to the taxpayer in security police officers if you choose to go in the stands.

“I’ve taken that advice, I’ve been offered a ticket somewhere else. Frankly I’d rather be in the stands but I’m not going to ask the taxpayer to indulge me to be in the stands when I could go and sit somewhere else where the club and the security say it’s safer for me to be. That is for me a common sense situation.”

He added: “I’m a life-long Arsenal fan. I’ve been going for years and years and years and it’s a real passion of mine and I can go with my boy.”

Starmer also defended the government’s controversial decision to axe winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, repeating his claim that Labour had to fill a £22 billion “black hole” left by the last government.

He was asked by BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire political editor Tim Iredale: “How long can you carry on blaming the last lot? It gets cold up north, could you survive on £220 a week?”

The PM replied: “We can’t pretend the £22 billion black hole doesn’t exist. I could pretend I had a magic wand, but I don’t want to give people false hope things can be fixed by Christmas.”

Downing Street Row Erupts After It Emerges Keir Starmer’s Chief Of Staff Earns More Than Him

Posted on 18/09/2024 by Boris Clair

A furious war of words has erupted inside 10 Downing Street after it emerged that Keir Starmer’s chief of staff earns more than he does.

The BBC reported that Sue Gray’s salary was increased to £170,000 after the general election. The prime minister receives around £167,000.

Several unnamed government special advisers – who are known in Westminster as SpAds – were quoted attacking Gray, who has been accused of turning down their pleas for higher wages.

One said: “It’s bizarre. I’m working harder than ever in a more important job and they want to pay me less than the Labour Party was paying me when it was broke.”

Another described Gray’s pay package as “the highest ever special adviser salary in the history of special advisers”.

The attacks on Gray sparked an angry backlash from her allies in Downing Street.

One government source told HuffPost UK: “Any questions people have should be directed at the process and not an individual.”

Another source insisted it was “categorically untrue” that Gray was warned that her pay rise would put her on a higher salary than the PM but went ahead with it anyway.

The source said: “Sue Gray had no involvement in any decision on her pay. She was informed of her salary after this had been set.”

A Cabinet Office spokesman told the BBC: “It is false to suggest that political appointees have made any decisions on their own pay bands or determining their own pay.

“Any decision on special adviser pay is made by officials not political appointees. As set out publicly, special advisers cannot authorise expenditure of public funds or have responsibility for budgets.”

However, HuffPost UK has also learned that Gray sits on the “Special Adviser People Board”, which decides SpAd pay, alongside senior civil servants Darren Tierney, Fiona Ryland and Simon Madden.

The latest briefings against Gray come amid well-documented tensions between her and Morgan McSweeney, No.10′s head of political strategy.

She first rose to national prominence while she was still a senior civil servants and conducted the government investigation into the partygate scandal.

Her damning report into lockdown-breaking parties inside 10 Downing Street was one of the contributory factors which ultimately led to Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister in 2022.

Sue Gray Refused To Co-Operate With Inquiry Into Job With Labour, Government Says

Posted on 02/05/2023 by Boris Clair

An inquiry into Sue Gray’s proposed move to the Labour Party has been put on hold after the partygate investigator refused to take part in the probe, a government minister has said.

Her appointment as the Labour leader’s chief-of-staff proved hugely controversial among Tory MPs given that she led the official government probe into Downing Street rule-breaking during lockdown.

Some reports suggested she could have breached the civil service code with her job move.

According to an update on a review into the appointment, Gray declined to make representations into the inquiry looking into her discussions with Labour about the senior party role, Oliver Dowden has said.

In a written statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, cabinet office secretary Oliver Dowden said his department has made a “confidential assessment” to the anti-corruption watchdog and will not provide further information on Gray’s departure “whilst we consider next steps”.

As well as a cabinet office probe, the anti-corruption watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), is reviewing the terms of Gray’s departure.

It can set recommendations for when senior people leave government, including calling for a cooling-off period to avoid any conflict of interest.

Who Is Sue Gray?

The senior civil servant was thrust into the limelight when she took over the probe into coronavirus rule-breaking at No 10 in 2021.

She stepped in to lead the investigation after cabinet secretary Simon Case – her boss – recused himself following allegations that his own office held a Christmas event amid a lockdown.

An initial dossier, published in January 2022, included several strong criticisms of Downing Street’s drinking culture, but was short on details about the parties as it was hampered by an investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police.

But her full report in May 2022 proved to be a bombshell. It detailed events at which officials drank so much they were sick, sang karaoke, became involved in altercations and abused security and cleaning staff at a time when millions of people across the country were unable to see friends and family.

She criticised “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 and said “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility”.

Six weeks later, Johnson was forced out of office by his own cabinet and Conservative MPs.

While Gray, in her mid-60s, is said to shun the media spotlight, some politicians have gone so far as to suggest the former publican is the “real leader” of the UK.

In her former role as director-general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office from 2012 to 2018, she is said to have overseen cabinet reshuffles, served as a guiding hand in compiling honours lists, and even signed off political memoirs before their publication.

In the statement, Dowden said Gray was “given the opportunity to make representations as part of this process but chose not to do so”.

He added that “in order to maintain confidentiality towards an individual former employee, I am unable at this stage to provide further information relating to the departure of Ms Gray whilst we consider next steps”.

Dowden also highlighted sections of the civil service code relating to the political activity of civil servants, adding: “The impartiality and perceived impartiality of the Civil Service is constitutionally vital to the conduct of government.”

Earlier in the day Starmer insisted he had no discussions with Gray while she was investigating Boris Johnson and he was “confident” she had not broken any rules.

“Firstly I had no discussions with her while she was investigating Boris Johnson whatsoever, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that’s the case,” the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast ahead of an expected update later from the Cabinet Office on the circumstances of her departure.

He went on: “I’m confident she hasn’t broken any of the rules.”

Starmer claimed the government was trying to resurrect a story about Gray, because they do not want to talk about the cost of living crisis.

Boris Johnson Described A Lockdown Leaving Do As ‘Most Unsocially Distanced Party In UK’

Posted on 11/01/2023 by Boris Clair

Boris Johnson described a Downing Street leaving do during lockdown as “the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now”, it has been claimed.

According to a new podcast by ITV, staff were left stunned when Johnson later denied knowledge of any rule-breaking in Number 10.

The fresh partygate allegations come amid speculation that the former prime minister is plotting a Downing Street comeback.

Johnson is accused of making the comment at a leaving party for his director of communications, Lee Cain.

Pictures later emerged of the then PM raining a glass after delivering a speech at the gathering.

One source told the ‘Partygate – The Inside Story’ podcast: “I was working late – some music came on, the mumbling sort of rose, and there were loads of people stood around, but this time I came out because I heard the prime minister speaking and that’s when I heard the quote: ‘This is the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now’ and everyone was laughing about it.”

The source added: “The PM making that comment really sticks out in my mind, that was pretty bad, because the picture showed one side of this going on.

“But what it didn’t capture is the 20 odd people sat on top of each other on the opposite side – they’re literally shoulder to shoulder, clamped in like a tube carriage.

“And he was there seeing people sat on other people’s laps (in) close proximity, crowded, scrunched up in front of him. He saw that, he saw people with drinks. You saw the picture. It had booze all over that desk. He’s not blind, he’s not stupid. He saw that and didn’t shut it down.

“That was really bad, but that was a normal sight, a regular occurrence, so it wasn’t unusual to see that sort of thing.”

Johnson later told MPs that no lockdown rules were broken in Number 10 – comments which are now the subject of a Commons inquiry.

Another source said of the PM’s comments: “We all watched it live and we were just gobsmacked. We all looked at each other and thought ‘why the hell is he saying this?’ We all know it had happened, he knew it happened – he was there.

“We were all just shocked that he would even deny it. He was there. We were there. We were all there together. And suddenly he’s denying it.”

The podcast also claimed that staff “shredded” key documents ahead of Sue Gray’s partygate investigation and corroborated their stories before filling out Metropolitan Police questionnaires on the scandal.

Johnson, along with his wife Carrie and Rishi Sunak, was fined for attending a birthday party thrown for him in 10 Downing Street during lockdown – but not over Lee Cain’s leaving party.

A spokesperson for Johnson did not deny he had made the “unsocially distanced party” comment.

They said: “During the pandemic, 10 Downing Street staff worked to coordinate the UK government’s national response.

“The work of Downing Street staff was crucial as they helped marshal the UK’s response to a national emergency.”

Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “These shocking revelations confirm Boris Johnson’s total disregard for the rules he asked us all to follow. He laughed and partied while the rest of the country suffered.

“Conservative MPs should be ashamed that they backed Johnson for so long and that some are even considering putting him back in Number 10.”

Sky’s Kay Burley Rips Into Boris Johnson Ally Over ‘Duty’ To Attend Staff Leaving Dos

Posted on 26/05/2022 by Boris Clair

Boris Johnson’s chief of staff has insisted the prime minister had a “duty” to attend staff leaving parties during the pandemic — even when people were unable to say goodbye to dying relatives.

The PM repeatedly stood by his decision to thank departing staff in person following the publication of Sue Gray’s damning report into the partygate scandal that has rocked No.10.

The report contained salacious details of excessive drinking and socialising inside No.10, where staff drank until they were sick and red wine was spilled up the walls.

In her report, the senior civil servant noted how Johnson attended a series of events himself, including a now infamous gathering for his departing director of communications Lee Cain where he is pictured raising a glass of alcohol.

But speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the prime minister insisted he felt it was his “duty” to make an appearance at the leaving-dos of departing colleagues.

“When I was speaking to colleagues about the departure of another spad [special adviser], or government adviser or official, it didn’t occur to me that this was anything except what it was my duty to do as prime minister during a pandemic.

“That’s why I did it, and that’s why I spoke as I did in the House of Commons. And, yes, as Sue has found and everybody can see and the evidence has shown, after I had been there things did not go well.”

Johnson’s words were immediately seized on by Sky Presenter Kay Burley, who asked Barclay: “So he could say goodbye to a work colleague, but people watching this programme this morning couldn’t say goodbye to a dying relative?”

Barclay replied: “I know from my own families in the constituency that that was heartbreaking for people that weren’t able to say goodbye, I think it was probably one of the worst features of the pandemic that people didn’t get that moment of being able to say goodbye.

“I think as was covered at the time in the rules, people working in Downing Street, because of the nature of their jobs working for the prime minister, they’re working in our vaccine rollout, ensuring we have the PPE, working very long hours in tight-knit situations, and there was a work exemption for them to be able to work together.

“It was in that context that the prime minster was very briefly, usually for a matter of minutes, to meet people.”

Burley interjected: “Why would he feel that he could say goodbye to a work colleague but people couldn’t go to a graveside?”

“Because they were already in the building,” Barclay said. “They were already working in tiny groups, they were already there.”

“Six bottles of wine, two bottles of champagne and a bottle of gin on the table…what sort of workplace is that?”

Barclay replied: “The Met has looked at these issues, these were very brief periods of time, the nature of the prime minster’s job is to go from meeting to meeting to meeting.

“But at the same time he has recognised the need for changes, he’s made those changes, and Sue Gray herself has recognised there’s been significant change with a permanent secretary, with a change of leadership team as a result of the lessons we’ve learned.”

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