The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has denied having recruitment discussions with the senior civil servant Sue Gray while she was investigating the former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Starmer said he was confident Gray, who was offered the role of his chief of staff, to lead Labour’s potential transition into government, had not broken any rules.
His remarks come as an update on a review into the circumstances surrounding Gray’s departure from the civil service is due to be presented to MPs.
Commenting on details leaked to Conservative-backing newspapers, Starmer suggested the government was attempting to deflect attention from the cost of living crisis ahead of this week’s local elections.
“Firstly, I had no discussions with her while she was investigating Boris Johnson, whatsoever. I don’t think anybody is suggesting that is the case,” Starmer told BBC Breakfast. “I’m confident she hasn’t broken any of the rules.
“Whenever a senior civil servant leaves the civil service there is always a process they have to go through before they take up another job, that’s the process she’s going through.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Cabinet Office update will suggest Gray held talks with Starmer while she was advising cross-party MPs on the privileges committee about their own inquiry into whether Johnson misled the Commons with his assurances that Covid rules were followed in No 10 during the pandemic.
Several reports suggest Gray could be found to have breached the civil service code with her job move.
Starmer said: “Actually today there’s nothing much new about this, I’m afraid with 48 hours to the election what’s going in is the government is trying to resurrect a story about Sue Gray mainly because they don’t want to talk about the cost of living crisis which actually is the thing people are most concerned about.”
He added: “What I’d say to the government, if you’re listening to people across the country, people aren’t talking about Sue Gray, they’re talking about not being able to pay bills.
“For heaven’s sake talk about the issue which is of central concern to, I would have thought, most people watching this; they are not sitting at their breakfast talking about Sue Gray, they’re talking about their bills. If the government focused on the right choices then we wouldn’t be in the mess that we’re in.”
Gray’s supporters believe the investigation, which they claim is politically motivated as she had not worked in a sensitive role for five years, is designed to put pressure on the government’s appointments watchdog to delay her starting the new job.
They fear the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) could recommend that Gray should be banned from working for the party until after the next election, expected next autumn.
The watchdog can suggest cooling-off periods of between three months and two years for senior ex-ministers or civil servants who want to take up new jobs, to minimise concerns over potential or perceived conflicts of interest.
