Former Senior Civil Servant Sue Gray Set to Join Labour Party as Chief of Staff

Sue Gray, a former senior civil servant, may start working for the Labour Party as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff in the autumn, despite government fury and restrictions on civil servants taking up outside employment within a year.

The Advisory Appointments Committee is recommending that Gray start the job six months after leaving the civil service, and her appointment may be subject to a final judgement from the committee.

Gray has held some of the most senior roles in the civil service and is best known for leading an investigation into the Partygate scandal.

Her decision to leave the civil service and take up a job with Labour sparked anger among some Conservative MPs, who argued that it raised questions about the impartiality of her report on Boris Johnson.

However, Labour has said it did not approach Gray until after the Partygate report was published.