Sue Gray ‘not involved’ with Partygate evidence while in Labour talks

Sue Gray was not involved with handing over Partygate evidence to the privileges committee inquiry into Boris Johnson while she was in talks with Labour about a job, multiple sources have said.

Allies of Johnson are furious that Gray is off to work for Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, as chief of staff, after the senior civil servant was in charge of the report on Partygate published last May.

They have used Gray’s move to Labour to call into question the privileges committee investigation into Johnson, claiming that it relies heavily on evidence gathered by Gray.

Ahead of Johnson’s appearance before the committee on Wednesday, allies of the former prime minister claimed Gray had been “advising” which evidence could be released to the inquiry while she was in talks with Labour.

However, Whitehall sources said the process was managed by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team, with Gray returning to her post as second permanent secretary on constitutional affairs in May last year.

Labour sources would not comment on claims that Gray had been in talks with the party since November last year. However, they said that Gray was not involved in advising on evidence for the privileges committee, which was part of a separate process within the Cabinet Office from the original gathering of material for the report.

However, some Conservative MPs said Gray’s contact with Labour needed to be investigated.

Priti Patel, the former home secretary and an ally of Johnson, told the Daily Mail: “It now transpires Sue Gray may have been in contact with Labour during the privileges committee process.

“This is an alarming development that the committee must take into account. We will need precise answers as to whether and when Labour had any hand in this, and what the extent of contacts were.”

The privileges committee, which is investigating whether Johnson misled parliament over the Partygate scandal, first asked for evidence last summer. However, this was not fully handed over by the government until Rishi Sunak was in power in November last year.

The committee, made up of four Conservative MPs, two Labour and one from the Scottish National party, disputes the claim that its inquiry is based on the Gray report. It has both received material such as photographs and WhatsApp messages from the government, and taken its own evidence from witnesses, who do not include Gray.