Conservatives clash with each other over Sue Gray’s work with work

Some Conservative MPs are rejecting a coordinated attack by their colleagues on the partygate investigator sue graythe decision to become Labor leader Keir Starmerchief of staff of .

In a series of leaked WhatsApp messages obtained by Sky NewsMPs have raised fears that drawing attention again to parties breaking lockdown rules will backfire on the party.

It came as Conservative MPs allied to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose time at Number 10 ended after a series of scandals, raised concerns in the House of Commons about Grey’s planned new role.

In the messages, Jackie Doyle-Price, a former whip and minister, is reported to have argued that Johnson himself appointed Gray to lead the partygate investigation.

“So much for a stitch,” he said. “He was not brought down by partygate. Or by Whitehall. He lost the confidence of the Parliamentary party… This anti-Whitehall buildup is simply burning our constitution.”

Added Doyle-Price: “Decades of public service in which he has commanded respect on all sides does not deserve to be ripped apart by a pack of Conservative MPs who just want to fight a partisan battle. I’m pretty ashamed of what I see.”

Tim Loughton, another former minister, warned: “Affecting your integrity about how you handled Partygate without evidence of what you could have done differently in light of the above only refocuses public attention on Partygate and puts us on the defensive.” to prove something that most of us can’t prove at this stage at least.”

But Nadine Dorries, one of Johnson’s closest allies, said Gray had undermined “the foundation of our democracy and how we govern.” She wrote: “Who knew about the financial affairs of Rishi’s wife/no Dom etc.? I don’t know if it was her, but I understand that very few people knew and she was one of them and she knew everything. A lot of things can suddenly start to make sense.”

Johnson, who was fined for breaking lockdown rules, was forced to announce his resignation as Tory leader and prime minister in July after Cabinet allies attacked him with a series of resignations.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the questions about his judgment on the The Chris Pincher Affairafter then-whipping Tory was at the center of drunk groping allegations.

That came on top of Johnson’s attempts to change the rules to avoid the suspension of then-Conservative MP Owen Paterson after he breached lobbying edicts.

In the House of Commons, former Conservative cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, and another Johnson close guard, said: “Doesn’t this blow up the idea of ​​an independent civil service, when we know that one of the most senior civil servants in the country was colluding in secret meetings with the opposition party?

“And doesn’t this detract from years of advice and reports she’s given? Her views on devolution, which were always known to be soft, the report of hers (to Mr. Johnson) which we now know was made by a friend of the Socialists.

“Doesn’t this undermine all your previous work and the idea of ​​an independent civil service?”

Peter Bone, a Conservative MP for Wellingborough, said: “I care very much about this place and we have plunged into a constitutional crisis.”

He added that parliamentarians need to be able to talk to senior officials “without fear that the information will be used for partisan political purposes,” noting: “He has caused immense damage to the civil service and I don’t know if he will be able to do that.” to recover.”

Michael Fabricant, Conservative MP for Lichfield, added: “Isn’t it ironic that Sue Gray was head of the Cabinet Office’s ethics and decorum team and it is she who has cast the civil service under a dark shadow, a shadow that has to have did it exist?

“And is it not also the case that this was misjudgment of her, but also misjudgment of the Leader of the Opposition, who when asked 10 times this morning to give more information about when the discussions started, 10 times evaded ?”