Starmer insists he had ‘no discussions whatsoever’ with Sue Gray while she was probing Partygate

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he had “no discussions whatsoever” with Sue Gray while she was probing Partygate last year.

The Labour leader is braced for an update on a Cabinet Office probe into his appointment of Ms Gray as his chief of staff in March.

A statement in Parliament today will give more information on the circumstances around Ms Gray resigning from a senior role in Whitehall to take the top Labour job.

It will suggest Ms Gray was in talks with Sir Keir about the job while working for the team advising the Commons Partygate probe, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly said such a finding would raise “serious questions” for Sir Keir.

Mr Cleverly said the report is “independent” and said he “has not seen the detail”. But responding to the claim, he told Sky News: “If that is what the report says, I do think Keir Starmer has got some serious questions to answer.”

But Sir Keir has insisted he had no discussions with Ms Gray while she was a civil servant investigating Boris Johnson and he was “confident” she had not broken any rules.

“Firstly I had no discussions with her while she was investigating Boris Johnson whatsoever, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that’s the case,” the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast ahead of the expected update today.

He went on: “I’m confident she hasn’t broken any of the rules.

“Whenever a senior civil servant leaves the Civil Service there is always a process that they have to go through, that is the process she is going through, quite rightly.”

He added: “The government is trying to resurrect a story about Sue Gray, maybe because they don’t want to talk about the cost of living crisis, which actually is the thing that most people are most concerned about.”

Labour has always denied that any approach was made while Ms Gray worked in the Cabinet Office’s ethics unit that was corresponding with the committee over its investigation into Mr Johnson.

The Sue Gray report into gatherings at Downing Street during the Covid pandemic contributed to Mr Johnson’s resignation as prime minister last year.

In March, it emerged Sir Keir had poached Ms Gray from the civil service to serve as his chief of staff, sparking uproar among Tory MPs.

As a result, the Cabinet Office is investigating whether her appointment undermined civil service impartiality. It is also considering other factors around her taking the job including whether she consulted the appointments watchdog beforehand and if she declared talks with Sir Keir as a conflict of interests.

The findings are expected to feed into a ruling on how long Ms Gray should wait before joining Labour, by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba).

It comes a day after a former commissioner for public appointments, Peter Riddell, said that should be next year.

He told Times Radio that period of time would be “reasonable”.

He said: “I think a substantial period is reasonable, mainly as an act of reassurance ... to ministers that their senior civil servants aren’t going to just be here today, gone tomorrow.”

Labour has insisted that Ms Gray was approached last autumn, long after she completed her Partygate report in May. Mr Johnson was forced from office by his own MPs later that summer.

But supporters of Mr Johnson suggested he was the victim of a stitch-up when it emerged Ms Gray was leaving to work for Labour.

Labour denied that any approach was made while Ms Gray worked in the Cabinet Office’s ethics unit that was corresponding with the committee over its investigation into Mr Johnson.

“The propriety and ethics team handled requests from the Privileges Committee, reporting to minister for Cabinet Office, Jeremy Quin,” a Labour source told PA.

“Sue Gray was not working in that team.”

Sir Keir is thought to want Ms Gray in place to help ready his party for power should he win the next general election, which is widely expected to be held next year.