Liam Conlon, son of Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray, has won the selection for Labour in ultra-marginal Beckenham & Penge. This won’t come as a surprise for anyone following the nepo baby’s attempts to get into Parliament over the last year. The seat is currently held by retiring MP Colonel Bob Stewart…
Conlon pipped Medical Aid for Palestinians CEO and vociferously anti-Israel Melanie Ward to the selection. Michael Crick reports the Gray campaign did particuarly well among postal and online votes. Conlon’s got a history of “boasting” about his mother’s role in Partygate in a bid to unseat Boris. Guido spotted his ambitions a mile off…
The Cabinet Office probe into Sue Gray’s appointment as Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff has found Gray broke the Civil Service code by negotiating with Labour in October of last year. Cabinet Office Minister Jeremy Quin has published a written statement confirming the breach:
“Given the exceptional nature of this case and the previous commitment by ministers to update the House, I can now confirm that the Cabinet Office process looking into the circumstances leading up to Ms Gray’s resignation has been concluded. As part of the process, Ms Gray was given the opportunity to make representations but chose not to do so. This process, led by the Civil Service, found that the Civil Service Code was prima facie broken as a result of the undeclared contact between Ms Gray and the Leader of the Opposition.”
“Mr. Rules” Keir Starmer is nonetheless appointing her anyway, after ACoBA gave her the green light to join Labour in time for party conference in September. Guido’s old enough to remember when she was “p*ssed off” that we were reporting she was a “Labour person”…
Read Quin’s full statement below:
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) have published their letter clearing Sue Gray to become Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, recommending only a six-month sabbatical from the last day of her employment in the Civil Service, which was in March. She will, as expected, be free to join Labour from September…
ACoBA add they have found “no evidence” her impartiality was compromised by applying for this job, and she first entered negotiations in October 2022 as per Matthew Doyle’s claims. They continue it is “quite normal for individuals to discuss the possibility of new roles before leaving office“. Is it “quite normal” to be working for the government, involved at “ministerial-level” discussions, while spending months negotiating with their opposition?
It’s been just over a year since Sue Gray was briefing The Times how “very p*ssed off” she was with Guido for insinuating she was Labour leaning. What a difference a year makes…
Read ACoBA’s full letter below:
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) has reportedly cleared Sue Gray to begin working as Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff in the autumn. Despite the Cabinet Office recommending a year-long ban with a further six month block on contacting the government, The Times reports she’s been handed just six months’ gardening leave from the point of quitting earlier this year. She’ll be free to join Labour well in advance of the election and in time for Labour Party Conference. Starmer won’t be waiting for Sue Gray quite as long as expected…
This is of course despite the fact she was in contact with Labour while still in post as a civil servant, and while still involved in the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics team. Six months from the point of leaving, given her involvement in top-level government discussions, is generous to say the least…
Last night it was reported the government’s plan to hire 12 Levelling Up directors across the UK has been scrapped, with Levelling Up minister Dehenna Davison confirming in a written ministerial question that the £144,000 jobs, despite “over 500 applicants“, are no longer available following “wider departmental changes“. Labour are fuming, with both Lisa Nandy and Alex Norris declaring the move “an embarrassing shambles“. Norris went even further in PoliticsHome, attacking the hiring process for being “beset by delays”…
“The story of these directors is symptomatic of the government’s approach to Levelling Up: announced with big fanfare before being beset by delays and then quietly dropped by ministers who hope nobody notices.”
Nandy and Norris might want to think twice when complaining the recruitment process for this took too long. Who was supposed to help hire these regional chiefs? None other than the Levelling Up department’s then-second permanent secretary, Sue Gray. Forever waiting for Sue Gray…
Chief Partygate investigator-turned Labour Chief of Staff Sue Gray was in personal contact with Privileges Committee chair Harriet Harman while Gray was still a civil servant. According to Sky News, Harman made frequent, direct contact with Gray in the early stages of the Kangaroo Court’s Partygate probe, claiming privately “I just speak to Sue”. A Privileges Committee spokesperson insists this is all above board:
“The chair with the full knowledge of the committee has had regular contact with a number of ministers and officials in the Cabinet Office to discuss matters such as the provision of documents to the committee, the identity of potential witnesses and the welfare of civil servants who may be affected by the inquiry.”
They also stressed “the privileges committee is not relying on evidence gathered by Sue Gray“. Just like how she ‘wasn’t’ working on the Partygate probe after opening talks with Labour – until it was revealed she was, after all…
Starmer claimed Richard Sharp being appointed to the BBC was corrupt because he was helpful to then PM Boris on an unrelated matter when the role was being discussed. Gray being appointed to Starmer’s office however is not corrupt despite when the role was being discussed her being helpful to the man who wants to be PM in getting rid of his most potent campaigning opponent. Completely different.
