Gransnet forums

News & politics

Sue Grey has resigned

(136 Posts)
Jaxjacky Sun 06-Oct-24 13:51:46

Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to "thank Sue for all the support she has given me", while in a statement Ms Gray said it had "become clear" in recent weeks that "intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction to the government's vital work of change".

Allira Mon 07-Oct-24 10:41:37

Rishi Sunak could have blocked her appointment for two years but did not.
He is a more decent man than his predecessors and successor.

Obviously, with her strong political views, she had a conflict of interests, at least during her later period as a civil servant. Civil servants should not show their bias and prejudices.

maddyfour Mon 07-Oct-24 10:34:31

A top civil servant who wrote the report on ‘partygate’ and subsequently becomes a top adviser to the new government, amongst all sorts of rumours and speculation which may or may not be true, is suddenly removed from her three month old post and given a different post, said to be not so close to the PM’s ear. Government supporters jump on the bandwagon to say there’s nothing to see here so stop discussing this, whilst others claim infighting in the government.
Who knows?
Interesting to watch from the sidelines though.

Anniebach Mon 07-Oct-24 10:31:57

They could have Wyllow but they chose not to.

Wyllow3 Mon 07-Oct-24 10:21:49

Annie, all I did was to speculatively enter into search engine "Conservatives donation fined", it came up immediately, which presumably the Telegraph could have done.

Anniebach Mon 07-Oct-24 10:15:40

Again, thank you Wyllow

Wyllow3 Mon 07-Oct-24 10:09:13

Lets just break that story open, as the Conservative Party were equally fined around the same time - 2020 - for failing to disclose donations

yes, In 2020 the group Labour Together apparently failed to disclose donations (different newspapers give different amounts) for campaigning purposes:

They were not personal donations in anyway, they are comparable to all general donations given to political parties.

They were rebuked by the Electoral Commission at the time, and were fined appropriately, £14000.

Around the same time - 2020

The Conservative Party has been fined £17,800 by the Electoral Commission after failing to accurately report a donation and keep a proper accounting record

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/conservative-party-fined-inaccurate-donation-report

So lets just say, both parties failed to disclose very large amounts and were both fined

Neither are acceptable, but lets be even handed about it - will the Telegraph be revealing this too

MaizieD Mon 07-Oct-24 10:05:46

GrannyGravy13

Morgan McSweeney the Labour Party election guru who is to replace Sue Gray was fined for not declaring £750,000 in donations…

He's not an MP. Why would he a) have 'donations' in the first place and b) why would he have to declare them?

Any link to a story?

GrannyGravy13 Mon 07-Oct-24 09:16:49

Morgan McSweeney the Labour Party election guru who is to replace Sue Gray was fined for not declaring £750,000 in donations…

nanna8 Mon 07-Oct-24 09:11:59

No, our lot are pretty boring! I couldn’t name half of them except the PM and maybe Penny Wong the foreign minister who is pretty intelligent, like her or not.

Mamie Mon 07-Oct-24 05:17:03

Just out of interest Nanna8. How does the team around the PM work in Australia? Would it, for example, be unusual for a Chief of Staff to the PM to have formerly been a highly experienced Civil Servant, as was the case with Sue Gray?
Are there lots of press stories around the inner workings of the PM's team? Do you think their Comms teams are effective?

nanna8 Mon 07-Oct-24 01:28:01

The thing is it is not so much the government but the greed and hypocrisy of their leader. He is not believable or acceptable anymore. Is the Times considered a right wing newspaper,too ? I guess anything that doesn’t wholeheartedly support your leader is now classified as ‘ far right’. That’s what communist governments do, too.

rafichagran Mon 07-Oct-24 01:24:48

FriedGreenTomatoes2

What a rise to the top this Gray woman has had. She didn't go to university, joined the Civil Service straight from school and then took a decade off to run a pub in Newry, Co Down.

Soon she’ll end up in the House of Lords with a platinum pension most of us can only dream of.

So what, she did not go to University, she ran a pub, goes to show she has a good work ethic.

Lovetopaint037 Mon 07-Oct-24 00:42:29

My goodness the speculation and rubbish on these postings appears to be less than considered views but rather dependent on the Mail, The Telegraph and that right wing GB News.
The budget hasn’t been delivered yet so why not actually give this government a chance before deciding this is an evil group of people set on the killing of old age pensioners. The other day there was a headline somewhere about the possible back tracking of the WFA and immediately up comes remarks like that means millionaires will be getting it. I give up. I would like the three hundred pounds towards my energy bills but I also want the doctors back to work and the trains to run when I have an important hospital appointment ; or having booked something I will be able to actually get to my destination.

nanna8 Mon 07-Oct-24 00:07:05

Hope things improve now for Chairman Keir. Perhaps he will get better advice. The UK needs stability with the way things are in the world.

Wyllow3 Sun 06-Oct-24 23:57:10

Why? I just think some people/news outlets love to present any event as "shock horror gosh surprise" when it's just news of a change in role/re-shuffle. Diminishes the breadth of actual news.

maddyfour Sun 06-Oct-24 23:43:43

Wow! That was a shock! Every day’s a surprise in politics. I wonder why?

Maggiemaybe Sun 06-Oct-24 23:26:08

Anniebach

And to me HiusePlantQueen

And me. “This Gray woman” came from a working class background and had to drop her plans to go to university when her father died suddenly. What justification is there for holding that against her?

Allira Sun 06-Oct-24 23:24:25

Anniebach

She was a former civil servant, worked for Starmer 2023 to 2024 ?

Sorry, yes, she joined Starmer in September 2023 and the Labour Party November 2023.

Anniebach Sun 06-Oct-24 23:21:41

She was a former civil servant, worked for Starmer 2023 to 2024 ?

Allira Sun 06-Oct-24 23:09:15

From what I heard, it took some persuasion for Sue Gray to agree to resign.

As a career civil servant of decades, she really should have remained impartial and should never have so quickly and eagerly joined the ranks of the Labour Party after their election.
As a civil servant her partiality and bias should have been a matter of investigation a long time ago.

Ladyleftfieldlover Sun 06-Oct-24 22:59:02

Anniebach

And to me HiusePlantQueen

And me!

Wyllow3 Sun 06-Oct-24 22:25:34

👏

Anniebach Sun 06-Oct-24 22:16:43

And to me HiusePlantQueen

HousePlantQueen Sun 06-Oct-24 22:06:46

FriedGreenTomatoes2

What a rise to the top this Gray woman has had. She didn't go to university, joined the Civil Service straight from school and then took a decade off to run a pub in Newry, Co Down.

Soon she’ll end up in the House of Lords with a platinum pension most of us can only dream of.

So she worked hard, didn't get a hand up, didn't go to the "right schools"? Sounds good to me.

Wyllow3 Sun 06-Oct-24 22:04:32

👍