Sue Gray is the name on everyone’s lips, as her long-awaited report into the Partygate scandal has finally been released.
As a long-standing and influential civil servant, Sue has been in charge of the probe since Simon Case - who was initially asked to conduct it - stepped aside after information surfaced that one such gathering had taken place in his office.
Born in north London, she was made the Second Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office in 2021 and she has remained there ever since.
Gray first joined the Cabinet Office in the 1990s, working her way up its hierarchy and eventually into director roles. From 2012 to 2018 she held the position of director-general of Propriety and Ethics in the Cabinet Office.
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During her career, she also worked as the Permanent Secretary to the Department of Finance in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2018 to 2021 and took some time out to run a pub in Newry in Northern Ireland in the 1980s.
Going back further, before she joined the Cabinet Office, she worked in the departments for Transport, Health and the Department For Work and Pensions.
When she rejoined the Cabinet Office in 2021, she took responsibility for the Union and Constitution Directorate.
How much does Sue Gray earn?
The Telegraph reported in January 2022, after her return to the Cabinet Office, that Gray earns £150,000 a year.
This puts her in the middle band of senior civil servants (SCS 2), who earn between £87,000 and £162,500 a year as of 2016.
She worked under Michael Gove when he held the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until Steve Barclay took his place in September 2021.
However, it seems that she has taken a pay cut in recent history. The Express reports that during her role in the Department of Finance Permanent Secretary in Northern Ireland, she earned between £160,563 and £188,272. She left the role in 2021 to rejoin the Cabinet Office.
In her current role as the Second Permanent Secretary, she leads the Union and the Constitution and is in charge of the Union Directorate and the UK Governance Group - a position that also makes her the sponsor for the Grenfell Tower and Infected Blood Independent Public Inquiries.
Gray has been described as “the most powerful person you’ve never heard of” since being given the mammoth task of investigating the gatherings that are now known to have taken place in Downing Street during the national lockdown.
