UK

Top civil servant leading No 10 parties probe once ran a bar in Co Down

Sue Gray who has been tasked with leading the inquiry into lockdown parties
Sue Gray who has been tasked with leading the inquiry into lockdown parties Sue Gray who has been tasked with leading the inquiry into lockdown parties

THE senior civil servant newly tasked with leading the inquiry into alleged Whitehall parties during coronavirus restrictions will be able to "go wherever she wants" and could even investigate her own boss.

Sue Gray was parachuted in to take over from Cabinet Secretary Simon Case in running the investigation after Mr Case was found to have been aware of a gathering in his own department when restrictions were in place.

Ms Gray, who is second permanent secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has been described as "formidable" and "deputy God".

She oversaw the Plebgate inquiry in 2012 after former chief whip Andrew Mitchell was accused of calling a policeman a "pleb" at the Downing Street gates, and is also part of the panel deciding on who will be next chair of the media regulator Ofcom.

The senior civil servant formerly ran a pub in Co Down with her husband.

She also served as permanent secretary of Stormont's Department of Finance from 2018 until May this year when she returned to the Cabinet Office.

However, she also took a career break in the 1980s to run the Cove Bar near Newry with her husband Bill Conlon, a country and western singer who is originally from Portaferry.

"I loved it, loved it at the time, I'd never do it again," she told the BBC in an earlier interview.

"I think actually it's a very sociable occupation, very hard work. But I loved meeting people.

"I think it was in a relatively country area, so, a mix of farmers, business people, a great mix of characters, and I got to know them really well and I threw myself into that."

On Sunday the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, said Ms Gray would have complete freedom in what she investigated in relation to the reports of gatherings.

"She will be able to investigate what she wants. If she wants to investigate one particular individual, whatever," he said.

Asked if she would be allowed to investigate Mr Case, who as head of the civil service is her boss, Mr Javid said: "She has the freedom as I understand to go wherever she wants with this investigation.

"That's the way it should be because people want to know the facts and that this is the best way to establish them."