Damning official Cabinet Office inquiry finds senior civil servant breached regulations and could have been sacked had she not quit
Source - Daily Telegraph - 17/06/23
Sue Gray, the senior civil servant poached by Sir Keir Starmer, breached Whitehall impartiality rules and could have been suspended or sacked had she not quit, according to the damning findings of an official Cabinet Office inquiry.
An assessment signed off by Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, and the Government’s most senior lawyer concluded that Ms Gray “fell short” of the requirements of both the Civil Service Code and her employment contract when she quietly took part in talks about joining Labour as Sir Keir’s chief of staff.
The findings, seen by The Telegraph, will embarrass Ms Gray, who was formerly in charge of government propriety and ethics. It will also prompt fresh questions about the judgment of Sir Keir, who has repeatedly railed against “Tory sleaze”.
The Conservatives had previously questioned whether the way in which he poached Ms Gray had “undermined the rules and the impartiality of the Civil Service”.
Sue Gray ‘in breach of Civil Service Code’
The internal Cabinet Office document was written by Darren Tierney, a successor of Ms Gray as director-general of propriety, and was marked “official” and “sensitive”.
The inquiry was launched following anger among ministers and civil servants about her decision to quit the Civil Service to take up a job at the highest levels of the opposition party.
Senior officials were concerned that the decision risked bringing the Civil Service into disrepute.
The document, dated April 27, stated: “SG’s contract, as with all permanent secretary contracts, was clear on the conduct expected of her, including with regard to declaring any conflicts as they arose.
“The Civil Service Code outlines the requirement on all civil servants to conduct themselves with integrity, openness, and impartiality.
“During the period in question, it is my view that SG fell short of these expectations and as a result acted in breach of the Civil Service Code as well as her contractual obligations.
“This is a position on which I have consulted Sarah Healey [permanent secretary of the Department for Levelling Up], the Cabinet Secretary, the Treasury Solicitor and HR colleagues; all of whom are in agreement with these conclusions and the underpinning analysis.”
The FDA, the Civil Service union that has been representing Ms Gray, said she denied breaching the Civil Service Code or her employment contract.
Sir Keir has also said he was “confident she hasn’t broken any of the rules”.
Ms Gray declined to cooperate with the internal inquiry and Dave Penman, the FDA’s general secretary, insisted it was his understanding that there was “no conclusion”.
Ms Gray is expected to join Labour as Sir Keir’s most senior aide from the autumn, having originally been approached last October while she was second permanent secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Whitehall’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) is separately expected to publish a recommendation that Ms Gray only starts work after taking six months’ gardening leave from her departure in March.
The disclosure will raise fresh questions about Ms Gray’s involvement in the investigations into Covid rule-breaking by Boris Johnson and other Conservative figures.
While at the Department for Levelling Up, she was commissioned by the then Prime Minister to conduct an inquiry into allegations of rule-breaking in Downing Street – a decision Mr Johnson has since suggested was a mistake due to questions about her “independence”.
Mr Tierney continued: “We cannot make any certain conclusions about what a disciplinary process would have found as one has not been undertaken as a result of SG’s resignation with immediate effect.
“Given her seniority, and the need for ministers to have confidence in their permanent secretaries, and the requirement not to bring the Civil Service into disrepute, there would have been a reasonable case for immediate suspension during any disciplinary action.
“Had a charge of gross misconduct been upheld, she would likely have been summarily dismissed.”
Labour ‘acting fast and loose’
Five days after the document was written, Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, issued a written ministerial statement in which he referred to Mr Tierney’s investigation, stating: “This process has involved interviewing relevant persons to establish further details on the contact between Ms Gray and the leader of the opposition.
“Ms Gray was given the opportunity to make representations as part of this process but chose not to do so.”
Mr Dowden pointed out that, in addition to the requirements of the Civil Service Code, the Civil Service Management Code sets out that all senior officials are “in the ‘politically restricted’ category, which places further restrictions on their political activity”.
He added: “In addition, there is a requirement under the Directory of Civil Service Guidance, which underpins the Civil Service Code, that ‘contacts between senior civil servants and leading members of the opposition parties … should … be cleared with … ministers’”.
Addressing the Commons earlier this year, Jeremy Quin, the Cabinet Office minister, said: “Many across the House have noticed that the leader of the opposition has a tendency to claim a self-righteous monopoly on morals, but there are now serious questions as to whether Labour, by acting fast and loose, undermined the rules and the impartiality of the Civil Service.”
Mr Penman, who has been representing Ms Gray in discussions with her former employers, said: “The position of the Government is as of the written ministerial statement. There has been no conclusion in relation to whether Sue Gray breached the Ministerial Code.
“There was an agreement the investigation would be suspended pending the outcome of the Acoba process. The investigation did not conclude, it did not take evidence from Sue and therefore that is mere speculation.”
In May, Sir Keir said he “had no discussions with her whilst she was investigating Boris Johnson whatsoever”.
On Saturday, a Labour spokesman added: “The official process is Acoba and that is what we have consistently said we will comply with.”
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We do not comment on private individuals.”
Comments
Post a Comment