Partygate investigator Sue Gray set to become Keir Starmer’s chief of staff

Sue Gray, the senior civil servant who led the investigation into ‘partygate’, is reportedly set to be appointed as Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff, following Sam White’s departure from the role in October.

Sky News reported today that Gray has been appointed chief of staff but that it has not been confirmed when she will start in the role, as her appointment will first be assessed by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), which oversees new jobs for former ministers and senior civil servants.

It was confirmed this afternoon that Gray has resigned from her role as second permanent secretary to the Cabinet Office.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “I can confirm that Sue Gray has resigned from the post of second permanent secretary. This was accepted by the department’s permanent secretary and the cabinet secretary with immediate effect. We will not be commenting further on individual personal matters.”

Gray had served as second permanent secretary since May 2021 and, in that role, led the investigation into the numerous reports of social gatherings held in Downing Street in breach of public health restrictions introduced during the Covid pandemic.

In her final report into the partygate allegations, released in May last year, the civil servant wrote that “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility” for the “culture” at the “heart of government”.

Her report covered 16 events in 2020 and 2021, included a garden party in May 2020 during the first lockdown of the pandemic when staff were advised to “bring your own booze” and another event on June 18th 2020, during which Gray found an “excessive amount of alcohol” had been consumed.

An event allegedly held in Johnson’s private residence in No 10 on November 13th was not investigated by Gray. She said the evidence collected in relation to the gathering was “limited” after she stopped investigating it to avoid prejudicing a Metropolitan Police probe into the event that had also been launched.

But her report included several pictures from the event. In some of the photographs, the then Prime Minister can be seen raising a glass in a crowded room. He previously told parliament that there had been no party on November 13th.

Johnson and then Chancellor Rishi Sunak were both issued with fixed-penalty notices in April last year as a result of the Met investigation. Johnson told MPs after the emergence of the initial allegations that “the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times”.

Gray first joined the Cabinet Office in the late 1990s and previously served as director general of propriety and ethics between 2012 and 2018.

It was announced in October last year that White was leaving the role of chief of staff as part of an accelerated restructuring of key positions in an attempt by Starmer to put his party on an “election footing” given the “implosion” of the Tories.

The Labour leader commented at the time that White had “played an incredible role taking our operation to the next level” and that “under his leadership the team has become better and stronger”.

But Starmer added that the restructuring meant running the leader’s office is becoming a smaller role “and we both agree as we’re making this change, now is the right time to go”.

White said: “The next phase of the campaign needs a different structure, but we part very much as friends with the intent to work together again in the future. You’ll find no greater champion for a Starmer government than me.”