LONDON — Rishi Sunak stressed that political impartiality is “a fundamental principle of how the civil service works,” amid a row over top official Sue Gray quitting to take on a key job with Keir Starmer’s Labour.
Gray — a long-standing senior official who led the investigation into lockdown-busting gatherings under Boris Johnson’s government — stunned Westminster Thursday by resigning in favor of a chief of staff gig with the opposition Labour Party.
It’s sparked the ire of Tory MPs and allies of Johnson, who argue the move undermines the ‘Partygate’ probe — hugely damaging for Johnson’s government — and calls Gray’s impartiality into question.
Speaking at a daily briefing with journalists in Westminster, the prime minister’s spokesperson said they would not be able to comment on Gray’s “individual case” as her exit remains “a personal matter.”
But they added: “Political impartiality is a fundamental principle of how the civil service works — and the prime minister is an extremely strong advocate of that.”
Gray’s move remains subject to clearance from revolving-door watchdog ACOBA. But while Sunak himself can make the ultimate ruling on ACOBA’s advice — which can suggest lobbying restrictions and a cooling-off period between jobs — its conclusions are not enforceable with any sanctions. It means Sunak will be unable to block the move should he wish.
Labour said Friday that Gray would abide by any ACOBA conditions.
Tory critics continued to circle Friday morning. Conservative MP Alex Stafford told the BBC that Gray’s appointment “undermines the work that she’s done and undermines the civil service.”
Former Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries said late Thursday that the move to Starmer’s office was “not surprising,” and claimed the Gray report into lockdown rule-breaking had been a “stitch up” of the then-prime minister.
Hitting back, Labour’s Lucy Powell told Times Radio that any claim the Starmer appointment undermines Gray’s report was “ludicrous.”
And Alex Thomas, a former civil servant now working for the Institute for Government think tank, argued that enraged Tory MPs do not “have a good argument” on the Partygate claim. He said Gray had always behaved “entirely impartially and equally robustly with ministers and political advisers of any party.”
Matt Honeycombe-Foster and Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.
