Anna Cully
As many predicted, the top serving government job, held by the controversial long-serving civil servant Sue Grey has ended. Her divisive rise to the chief of staff heading up the most powerful government department has culminated in her silent departure, further highlighting the enigma of her career and her quick ascension from background civil servant to staining a successful government’s reputation not yet 100 days in.
Sue Grey began her civil service career at 18 and returned to join the cabinet office in the 1990’s. Although not much is said for her time in the civil service in 2017 she was described as “the woman who runs the country” and “a powerful person who stays hidden” and these small snippets of her career only enamour her mystery. This came to the forefront when she began work on the biggest government scandal in decades, the Partygate scandal.
subjected to fines for breaking constant ever-changing rules
Partygate was a political scandal surrounding the actions of some Tory MPs and civil servants in Downing Street, who attended numerous parties while public health restrictions prohibited gatherings. This caused great embarrassment for the wider party and the country who were being subjected to fines for breaking constant ever-changing rules. After being pressured, Boris Johnson called for an inquiry and Sue Grey a senior civil servant was chosen which was published on the 25th of May 2022.
The nature of being a civil servant is to be impartial, having to work with government MPs with a range of political ideologies, it is paramount that they serve no alliances ensuring their work is completely unbiased. But this was brought into question, when the now high-profile civil servant, after hearing of Keir Starmers’ interest in her becoming his chief of staff for a left-affiliated party, resigned from the civil service to take up the position.
undermines the work that’s she done and undermines the civil service”.
This divided many, calling out her very public work with Partygate no longer considered neutral and enabling many to question whether the very nature of the civil service to even feasible. As MP Alex Strafford said Sue Grey “undermines the work that’s she done and undermines the civil service”. Especially after joining the party that benefited the most from the Partygate scandal.
earning £170,000, £3,000 more than that of the prime minister
The events of the past few weeks have only brought more attention to her new government role, with disagreement over the amount of pay, with her earning £170,000, £3,000 more than that of the prime minister, and the scandal surrounding the donations to Keir and his wife. So was it somewhat inevitable that she would resign? Was she already hindered by scandal, she serve more as a liability, damaging the reputation of the new government? Either way, although little is known of her career, her work was impactful. It cemented the change in the public opinion of the conservatives, which was later confirmed in the 4th July 2024 election.
Now Sue Grey’s job has been filled by McSweeney, a critic of hers, and she has since been given the role of envoy to the prime minister for nations and regions.
Anna Cully
Featured image courtesy of Shane Rounce via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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