Rishi Sunak accused of pursuing ‘vendetta’ against former top civil servant Sue Gray

Rishi Sunak is pursuing a “vendetta” against former top civil servant Sue Gray, Labour’s Rachel Reeves has claimed.

The shadow chancellor said the prime minister is “doubling down” on Boris Johnson’s “vendetta” against the civil servant over her Partygate investigation.

Ms Reeves’ comments came after a government inquiry into Ms Gray’s resignation to take up a top job with Labour was paused following her refusal to engage with the probe.

Labour has insisted the government’s investigation is a “political gimmick” and that Ms Gray is instead cooperating with a probe by the anti-corruption watchdog Acoba.

Acoba can set recommendations for when senior people leave government, including calling for a cooling-off period to avoid any conflict of interest.

As the row over Ms Gray’s appointment deepened, Ms Reeves told Times Radio: “The issue here is that there are two inquiries going on. There is the usual one, the Acoba process which Sue Gray is cooperating with fully, and then there is the political gimmick one set up by Government ministers to pursue this vendetta they have got against Sue Gray.

“Sue Gray is cooperating with the normal process, the Acoba process, that looks at the appointment of former civil servants to roles outside the civil service and she is cooperating, and also Labour is cooperating, with that inquiry.”

She added that Mr Sunak was "supposed to be moving on from the era of Boris Johnson but instead he is sort of doubling down on this vendetta against Sue Gray" over her probe into Downing Street lockdown parties.

Tory MPs were left furious after Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden said on Tuesday night that Ms Gray “chose not to” make representations as part of its inquiry into her departure.

She was offered a job as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff in March to help prepare the party for government after the next general election.

But Conservatives have raised concerns she was in contact with Labour about the role while she had responsibility for looking into alleged rule-breaking in No 10, prompting the government to launch an investigation.

The Cabinet Office inquiry, which was widely expected to accuse Ms Gray of breaching the civil service code, has been handed to Acoba.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat accused Labour of “not cooperating” with the civil service.

Asked about Ms Gray’s decision not to contribute to the Cabinet Office’s probe, Mr Tugendhat told LBC: “I think the person I’m most surprised at frankly, is Keir Starmer.

“He’s painted himself as a white knight in all this and he’s not cooperating with the civil service or rather, he’s not asking the person he nominated to cooperate with the civil service body that’s investigating it.

“That’s a decision for him, obviously, but it does raise questions.”

Acoba’s recommendation on how long Ms Gray should wait before taking up the role with Labour could come at the end of this month, Politico reported.