No meddling in Gray report, insists minister
Meeting with senior civil servant was likely to have been about levelling up, says Nadhim Zahawi
‘The Prime Minister will never intervene in Sue Gray’s investigation. He wants Sue Gray to go wherever the evidence takes her’
BORIS JOHNSON has not tried to influence the Sue Gray report, a Cabinet minister has insisted, as he said a meeting between the pair could have been about levelling up.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, sought to defend the Prime Minister over an alleged secret meeting with Ms Gray, who is overseeing the report into the partygate scandal.
It is claimed that they met at least once during the time the report was being drafted, although a Whitehall source said its contents were not discussed at any point.
Mr Johnson’s allies last night accused Ms Gray of “playing politics” and strenuously denied that the Prime Minister had attempted to “nobble” her inquiry.
Senior Tories told the Daily Mail they were alarmed by “toxic” leaks from Ms Gray’s team and the suggestion that she was “surprised” Mr Johnson received only one police fine for lockdown violations. “Sue Gray is supposed to be neutral but she’s been busy playing politics and enjoying the limelight a little too much,” a source told the paper.
Mr Zahawi sought to downplay the talks and the idea that they were “secret”. “She’s also the senior civil servant responsible for levelling up and making sure the United Kingdom gains the benefit in all its formations,” he told the BBC’S Sunday Morning. “The PM meets his civil servants all the time.”
Mr Zahawi insisted he did not know who had called the meeting and that he did not believe that any meeting between the two was “material to the outcome of the investigation”.
“Sue Gray is professional, and has the highest level of integrity,” he said. “She is independent, the PM will never intervene, interfere, in the investigation.”
The BBC had reported that the discussions touched on whether photos would be shown to the public and that Ms Gray initiated the meeting “to clarify her intentions” for what would happen when the police inquiry ended.
However, a spokesman for the Gray inquiry disputed this account, while a No10 source insisted the request for the meeting did not come from Mr Johnson.
It has been reported the idea was in fact suggested by a No10 official while the calendar invite was sent by Ms Gray.
Mr Zahawi told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “All I can say to you is the meeting that took place between Sue Gray and the Prime Minister – I can’t tell you who called the meeting.”
Asked if he could not say who called the meeting because he did not ask No10, or because it did not tell him, Mr Zahawi said: “The answer is the Prime Minister will never intervene in Sue Gray’s investigation. The Prime Minister wants Sue Gray to basically go wherever the evidence takes her.”
It comes as about 30 people, including Mr Johnson, are being contacted by the Cabinet Office to warn them of the contents of the document ahead of its expected publication. It is thought that most of the letters were sent out last Thursday, as the Metropolitan Police concluded its investigation into lockdown breaches in Downing Street and across Whitehall.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has called on the Prime Minister to “urgently explain” why the “secret meeting” with Ms Gray took place.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson had been “clear throughout” that the report should be “completely independent”.
Speaking to LBC yesterday, Annemarie Trevelyan, International Trade Secretary, defended Ms Gray as “clearheaded” and “independent minded”.
Like Mr Zahawi, she said she did not know who had organised the meeting with Mr Johnson, adding: “I don’t follow anybody’s diaries.”
Asked whether the details of who did call the meeting should be clarified to the public, Ms Trevelyan said: “I’m not sure that it makes any difference to me.”