Who is Sue Gray, the civil servant with Boris Johnson’s career in her hands?

  • 📰 TheEconomist
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 69 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 31%
  • Publisher: 92%

United Kingdom Headlines News

United Kingdom Latest News,United Kingdom Headlines

Boris Johnson certainly can’t expect a soft ride from the civil servant in charge of the “Partygate” inquiry

fined by the police for attending a drinks party during lockdown, Boris Johnson, Britain’s beleaguered prime minister, must now face the results of an official inquiry into. The inquiry into rule-breaking in Whitehall was commissioned by the government in mid-January, but delayed to allow the police to conduct their own investigation.

He certainly can’t expect a soft ride from Sue Gray, the 65-year-old civil servant in charge of the inquiry. She is investigating several occasions on which the rules may have been breached in Downing Street. The pressure on the prime minister increased on May 23rd, when photos emerged of him, drink in hand, toasting a departing aide in November 2020, while the rest of the country was banned from socialising.

Her effectiveness as an enforcer may be explained by her atypical career. Unlike her fast-track Oxbridge peers, Ms Gray never attended university and joined the civil service at the bottom. Others take career breaks to study climate change at Harvard or help run posh investment banks. Ms Gray joined her husband, Bill Conlon, to run a pub near Newry in Northern Ireland, an area known as “bandit country” during the Troubles.

Some question whether she should be sitting in judgment on other civil servants. They include her own immediate boss, the cabinet secretary Simon Case. He was originally due to lead the inquiry, but was forced to recuse himself when it was revealed that he may also have hosted a social event in his own office during lockdown. Ms Gray, however, may have been the better choice all along. If anyone can spot the difference between a booze-up and a “policy discussion”, it must be a former publican.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

They met last week to decide what to put into the report. 😆

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 6. in UK

United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Boris Johnson's allies accuse Sue Gray of 'playing politics'A senior Whitehall source said it was 'not true' that Mr Johnson had sought a secret meeting with Miss Gray (pictured) to discuss her report into lockdown-busting events in No 10. Sue grade looks happy person. Likes good laugh. The woman we haven't heard from for months is playing politics? If so she's even worse at it than Boris. Bollocks. It was Boris’s team that as always lied. Boris requested the meeting
Source: DailyMailUK - 🏆 7. / 90 Read more »

No10 ‘made the first move’ over Sue Gray meeting with Boris Johnson🔴The Standard has been told that No 10 officials initially suggested the meeting between the PM and Ms Gray and that she or her team later formally sent out a proposal for it Few months back I had no way of taking care of my kids , had no job or money also struggling through the pandemic,so I decided to try Bitcoin trading I was able to earn $50,000 now am financially stable. Interested DM me for more information.
Source: Evening Standard - 🏆 92. / 53 Read more »

Downing Street Did Suggest Sue Gray Hold Meeting With Boris Johnson, Admits No.10Downing Street did suggest Sue Gray hold meeting with Boris Johnson, admits No.10
Source: HuffPostUK - 🏆 108. / 51 Read more »

Politics live: Damning Sue Gray report published; Boris Johnson to give news conferencePolitics Hub brings you the latest political news, insight and analysis from the Sky News team in Westminster. Sue Gray report into lockdown parties in Downing Street published - Boris Johnson is expected to give a news conference. Will anybody resign? Waiting boris
Source: SkyNews - 🏆 35. / 67 Read more »

Politics live: Boris Johnson braced for Sue Gray report - with news conference likely.KayBurley: 'The police did issue fines for people that were at the event on 13 November and the PM was there.' Environment Sec George Eustice reiterates that the police looked at the event and chose not to issue the PM with a fine. Latest: 📺 Sky 501 KayBurley Not one shred of integrity left. They go out on national TV and embarrass themselves time after time after time. How on earth do these people look their own children in the eye? How do they sleep at night? And for what? It's absolutely beyond me. They are busy lurching from one self inflicted crisis to the next Because it’s prudent to wait until you know the full facts before jumping in with the first solution decided on a fag packet.
Source: SkyNews - 🏆 35. / 67 Read more »

Boris to hold press conference TODAY over damning Sue Gray Partygate reportBORIS Johnson will say sorry to the nation over Partygate in a grovelling No10 press conference this afternoon. The PM has a punishing day of awkward questions over the Sue Gray report into Downing…
Source: TheSun - 🏆 64. / 61 Read more »