Sir Keir Starmer is thinking about appointing Sue Gray as his party’s new chief of staff in time for the next general election, it has been claimed.
The top civil servant made a name for herself while investigating whether the Government broke lockdown rules with events it held while the country was under legally-enforced restrictions.
Now, Sir Keir may be asking her to take on one of Labour’s most senior roles as the party tries to win over the nation, according to Sky News.
A Labour spokesperson said: ‘The process is ongoing. Nobody has been offered the job.’ Ms Gray has not yet made any public comment.
A senior Tory quoted by Politico responded with fury, saying the possible recruitment calls into question Ms Gray’s motives during her partygate inquiry.
They said: ‘This is a staggering revelation which the cabinet secretary needs to fully investigate. This calls into question the impartiality of the civil service.’
Sir Keir axed his previous chief of staff Sam White last October during a major reshuffle ‘to get on election footing’.
Mr White was reportedly unpopular with some members of the shadow cabinet.
Ms Gray, however, seems to have earned the support of many of her peers in Whitehall.
She is known for taking a hard line on ministerial misbehaviour and is currently running the Union and Constitution Directorate at the Cabinet Office.
The Tories are facing a tough election season after partygate, Boris Johnson’s dramatic downfall and Liz Truss tanking the economy in a seemingly never-ending list of Westminster chaos.
Rishi Sunak has restored some stability, most recently with a new Brexit deal to solve the Northern Ireland protocol.
But the Tories have been rocked again with fresh scandal as leaked WhatsApp messages from Matt Hancock allegedly show he rejected advice to test all people going into care homes for coronavirus at the start of the pandemic.
In further leaks this morning, it was revealed former education secretary, Sir Gavin Williamson, claimed some teachers wanted schools to close during the pandemic so they would have an ‘excuse’ not to work.
Mr Hancock’s team said the messages were ‘spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda’ and the journalist who shared the texts, Isabel Oakeshott, was blasted for a ‘massive betrayal and breach of trust’.
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