Come clean, Sir Keir

SIR Keir likes nothing more than to lecture others about the importance of openness, honesty and integrity in public life.

But when it comes to transparency about his own political dealings, Labour’s leader gives a masterclass in evasiveness.

Nine times he was asked during a radio interview when he first approached top civil servant Sue Gray to become his chief of staff. Nine times he refused to answer.

‘There’s nothing improper,’ he spluttered. If that’s the case, why won’t shifty Sir Keir tell us when he offered her the job?

By advising ministers on sensitive matters of government while simultaneously in secret meetings with Labour, Ms Gray has broken up to four anti-sleaze rules.

She has proven that large parts of our supposedly independent civil service exist as another branch of the Left-wing, Toryloathing blob. And to the public, it looks grubby that the woman whose Partygate probe helped oust Boris Johnson is now consorting with the opposition.

With Angela Rayner dismissing the episode as a Tory conspiracy theory, it’s clear Labour is rattled. Sir Keir must now meet his own self-righteous standards and come clean.