His name was still unknown a few months ago in the UK and is now on everyone’s lips. Sue Gray is the senior official in charge of the investigation into “Partygate”, and these alcoholic parties organized in full confinement at 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister… Sue Gray, a formidable and feared investigator, could have in her hands Boris Johnson’s political future.
A civil servant “ blameless », « intransigent “, and ” inflexible “: these are the terms used by former ministers to describe it. This reputation as a formidable investigator, Sue Gray acquired it in the 2010s, when she dealt with ethics issues in government.
” Since the scandals of the 1990s, we have erected controls, commissions, codes of ethics “Explains to RFI Denis MacShane, former Labor MP and minister of Tony Blair. ” And so if we want to find a solution to a problem, if you have a minister who is causing a scandal and we are wondering if he should be fired, we give the file to Ms. Gray and everyone accepts her verdict. If Sue Gray existed in France, I wonder if Nicolas Sarkozy, or even President Chirac would have calmly ended their period at the Élysée!»
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owner of a pub
Now 64 (or 63 according to some sources – the uncertainty adds to the mystery surrounding the character), Sue Gray began her career as a civil servant in the 1970s. echelons of the public service, she offers herself a parenthesis for the less surprising and becomes the manager of a pub, in the 1980s, in Northern Ireland. She settled there at the height of the conflict which then pitted the Republicans against the British crown.
” It’s very curious, what was she doing there? », asks Denis MacShane. ” In the area where his pub was, the British army dared not enter because it was totally controlled by Sinn Fein and the IRA (Irish Republican Army). And one wonders for which agency she worked… And it is said, not only in the press, but also behind the scenes, that she still has good contacts with the intelligence services. »
The lie at the heart of the scandal
Back in London, she held all sorts of positions of high responsibility within the administration. In 2021, she was appointed number 2 of the Cabinet Service, the ministry in charge of coordinating government action. In December, she is responsible for leading the internal investigation into the “Partygate”, and these watered festivities organized at the official residence of the Prime Minister while the country is subject to strict confinement rules.
Her investigation is carried out with meticulous care: Sue Gray goes through emails and text messages, looks at CCTV footage, and questions civil servants, ministers, advisers and police officers in charge of security. At the heart of his research, there is a question that could be fatal to Boris Johnson: before the British Parliament, the Prime Minister assured that he was not informed of the festive nature of these meetings.
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If, at the end of his investigation, Sue Gray shows that he lied, it could be the end of the road for the head of government. ” The question of lying in Parliament is something that poses a serious problem for the political class,recalls Agnès Alexandre-Collier, professor at the University of Burgundy and specialist in British politics. Because lying is contrary to the “Rule of Law” which is in the British Constitution a way of behaving and adhering to a certain number of principles. »
Unexpected boost
Can Boris Johnson still escape the worst, namely a motion of no confidence within his own party, which would push him to resign like Margaret Thatcher in 1990? ” So far he’s gotten away with pirouettes and also a kind of joviality that entertains Brits», Analyzes Agnès Alexandre-Collier. ” This brought him luck, particularly at the time of the 2019 elections. But, given the seriousness of the situation and the crisis that the British are going through and faced with the repetition of lies in the House of Commons, it seems that we are still arriving a bit at a point of no return for Boris Johnson.»
The British Prime Minister could nevertheless benefit from an unexpected boost from the British police. The latter has indeed opened its own investigation and asked Sue Gray not to reveal the entirety of her report… so as not to hinder her research. This unexpected respite for Boris Johnson is already arousing the indignation of the opposition, which is crying out for the full publication of the investigation carried out by Sue Gray.