Sue Gray made headlines as the investigator of partygate. Many consider her as the true reason behind the resignation of Boris Johnson, when she certified the "serious leadership failure" during the Covid. After her 20 minutes of fame, she could have continued her career as a gray civil servant in the Cabinet Office until retirement...
But Keir Starmer, who knew her from his time as Attorney General, has decided to bring her back, retrain her, and promote her against all odds as his Chief of Staff. She has now returned to Downing Street, ready to show at 66 years old why she is known as the most influential woman in the United Kingdom, although she has quickly returned to the spotlight.
According to The Times, Sue Gray has been accused of "inappropriate interest" by using her position to intervene in favor of the construction of a stadium in Belfast that aims to host Northern Ireland matches in the 2028 Eurocup. Gray, daughter of Northern Irish immigrants and former owner of a pub in Newry, may have used her influence to influence the final decision and approve the allocation of 330 million euros for the renovation of the run-down Casement Park, originally designed for the minority Gaelic football and planned as a 35,000-seat stadium.
The case has once again brought to light the former Director General of Ethics in the Government between 2012 and 2018, accused of breaking the code of conduct for civil servants due to her contacts with the Labor Party to take on a political position. All roads also lead to Northern Ireland, where Sue Gray tried (and failed) to become the top civil servant in Stormont, a needle she had been trying to thread since 2020 and which - according to Nadine Dorries, a close ally of Boris Johnson - fueled her thirst for revenge in the partygate.
There has long been suspicion hanging over Sue Gray of having been a spy for the British Government (although she vehemently denies it) during the most intense period of the Northern Irish conflict. In 1985, she married Irish country singer Bill Conlon, and immediately took a leave of absence to buy the Cove Bar, an atypical pub in Newry, on the explosive border between the two Irelands. There, she served pints for months until she grew tired and returned to London.
"Who takes a break in their career to run a pub for a year in bandit country?" pondered a member (unidentified) of the Cabinet Office in The Sunday Times, in an attempt to shed light on the 50 shades of Gray. Due to her way of moving and maneuvering within the Government, others liken her to characters from gangster movies like Wolf (the fixer from Pulp Fiction) or Peter Clemenza (the capo from The Godfather).
The fact is that the cautious premierKeir Starmer, known for his prudence, decided to take a risk by choosing Sue Gray to keep his staff in line and grease the wheels of the Government from day one, thanks to her knowledge of internal mechanics. Along the way, Sue Gray seems to have hit it off with the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, with whom she shares a working-class background. Those who saw her rise through successive governments remember that Gray, also seasoned during the Blair era, always stepped more firmly with her left foot.