Sue Gray has “not enjoyed” being within the public eye and this led to her resolution to take a break from Government, a senior Cabinet minister has stated.
The high Labour aide resigned over the weekend as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of employees and can take up a brand new function as an envoy to the “nations and regions” of the UK.
But the previous civil servant didn’t make an look on the first summit between the Government and leaders from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the English areas in Edinburgh at the moment.
Pat McFadden, a Cabinet Office minister, stated the ex Partygate investigator had “been through quite a lot” in latest weeks, following experiences of turmoil on the coronary heart of Sir Keir’s No 10.
Asked why she wouldn’t be attending the summit of UK regional and nationwide leaders, Mr McFadden – the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – stated: “Sue has been through quite a lot in the last few weeks.”
In a second interview yesterday (FRI), he added: “I know that she has not enjoyed being a figure in the public eye unlike me, who can come on your programme and speak for myself and answer any of your questions.
“As an official, she can’t do that. Given what she has been through in the last few weeks, she has decided to take a bit of downtime, take a bit of a break, and I quite understand why.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir additionally repeatedly dodged questions on the absence of Ms Gray.
Asked whether or not he was embarrassed she had not been on the gathering, which is vital to her new function, the Prime Minister stated: “We’ve just had the first meeting of the Council of Nations and Regions.
“I’ve had every First Minister here, the Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland, and all the mayors from across England.
“We’ve had a really constructive discussion about economic growth, about jobs, about investment, and even today, we’ve had a further announcement of £24 billion investment in the United Kingdom.
“I set out when we won that election, to change the country for the better, to stabilize the economy, and these investments that are coming in… they’re a drumbeat into our Investment Summit.”
Asked whether or not he would approve Ms Gray’s severance pay, the Prime Minister repeated that “we’ve had a really important meeting today”.
Meanwhile Mr McFadden wouldn’t disclose if Ms Gray would proceed being paid whereas she was taking time away from work.
Downing Street refused to say why Ms Gray is taking the break from work, with a No 10 spokeswoman saying it was “not routine for us to give a running commentary on individual members of staff”.
No 10 insisted the Friday gathering of the Council of Nations and Regions was “by no means the extent of our engagement” and Ms Gray would play a “huge role” going ahead.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1960717/sue-gray-keir-starmer-edinburgh-regions-envoy-meeting