Ex-civil servant condemns claims Sue Gray had 'political plot' after her appointment as Labour chief of staff
3 March 2023, 15:39
This ex-civil servant told Shelagh Fogarty that the conspiracies that Sue Gray had a "deliberate plot against the PM" during her report on Downing Street parties is "pretty far-fetched".
Ex-civil servant Jill Rutter told Shelagh Fogarty that the appointment of Sue Gray to Labour's chief of staff is not a "political plot", suggesting it was just another "conspiracy theory" championed by Johnson supporters.
Ms. Rutter, former programme director at the Institute for Government, continued: "In many ways, it's just as likely that one of the things that motivated Sue Gray to go and help Kier Starmer prepare for the government was what she saw and condemned in her report" rather than any prior political affiliation.
These comments come after the appointment of ex-senior civil servant Sue Gray who oversaw the official inquiry into lockdown-breaking parties in No 10.
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Boris Johnson supporters have promised to undermine the appointment and see it as undermining the findings of the Sue Gray Report 2022 which led partly to Boris Johnson's resignation. Attention is also being paid to whether Rishi Sunak might block the appointment entirely.
Ms. Rutter elaborated on the report saying it "actually let the Prime Minister off relatively lightly" and "may have tipped her over the edge into thinking maybe I can do some good in helping a new government hitting the ground running."
She concluded: "The facts of the party will determine the fate of Boris Johnson not the authorship of Sue Gray."