Starmer told to come clean about meetings with Gray

A FORMER justice secretary has written to Sir Keir Starmer to demand he come clean about when he met senior civil servant Sue Gray to offer her a job as his chief of staff.

Sir Robert Buckland said the Labour leader’s argument – that to release the dates would impede the Acoba appointments process – was false.

He said Labour would open itself up to accusations of “hypocrisy” if it did not publish the details.

Ms Gray, who wrote the report into Number 10 lockdown parties which led to the departure of Boris Johnson, resigned as second permanent secretary to the Cabinet Office last week.

She is set to become Sir Keir’s chief of staff as Labour tries to position itself as a party of government ahead of the election. Earlier this week, the Labour leader refused 10 times to say when the party had first approached Ms Gray about the role.

Later, Jonathan Ashworth, shadow work and pensions secretary, claimed they were “trying to respect” the Acoba appointments process.