RISHI Sunak feels “disappointed” Sue Gray wouldn’t cooperate with a Cabinet Office probe into her joining Labour, a spokesperson confirmed today.
The No10 official insisted Ms Gray should be more open about how she came to be named Sir Keir Starmer’s next Chief of Staff.
Sue Gray has refused to cooperate in Cabinet Office into her wanting to join Labour as Sir Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff
The former top mandarin sparked fury yesterday as she stone-walled a Whitehall investigation into her dramatic departure from Government.
Insiders accused her of breaking the civil service code on multiple occasions.
Deputy PM Oliver Dowden pointed out she should have stuck to strict rules around conducting “political activity” and failed to declare the talks with senior ministers.
A No10 spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister is not obviously involved in this process.
“But it is obviously disappointing that Sue Gray was offered to co-operate and has chosen not to do so.
“I think what is more disappointing is that Keir Starmer is in a position where he could clear up very quickly when contact was made by his office or by him to Sue Gray to uphold the integrity of the Civil Service and ensure that it is transparent and open.”
The career mandarin was forced to quit in March after news of her hush-hush chats with Labour were leaked before she had approached the Whitehall appointment watchdog, ACOBA.
While she didn’t cooperate with the Cabinet Office probe, she is speaking to members of the independent ACOBA panel.
The group are expected to report back in the coming weeks.
They could recommend up to two years of garden leave for Ms Gray before she’s permitted to work for the opposition.
Today a spokesperson for Sir Keir insisted Labour is “fully supporting” the ACOBA probe – and will follow whatever its recommendation is.
But they refused to admit when Sir Keir last spoke to Ms Gray.
A spokesperson said: “The Labour Party is fully supporting the Acoba process and the Acoba process is that Sue Gray submits her form with the information as requested of her by Acoba in the usual way.”
They added: “Sue Gray is going to be Keir Starmer’s chief of staff”.
