Sue Gray reported on Downing Street parties in Whitehall during lockdown (Picture: PA)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to say when he first suggested Sue Gray – the former senior civil servant behind the Partygate report – work for him as his chief of staff.

Sir Keir said he had ‘absolutely no contact’ with Ms Gray before her report on lockdown-busting parties at No.10 in May last year.

‘I’ve been looking for a chief of staff for a little while now, but Sue will lay that out, but there’s nothing improper at all,’ he told LBC.

Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin told MPs it was ‘unprecedented’ for a senior civil servant to resign for a job with the opposition. He warned Rishi Sunak may block the appointment if Ms Gray has broken the rules by not warning the anti-corruption Acoba committee of her plans.

‘We are checking to make sure what exactly was the run-up to taking this job,’ he said. Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Ms Gray of ‘conniving in secret meetings with the opposition’.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has refused to divulge when the prospect of Gray becoming chief of staff was suggested (Picture: Getty)

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Tories were ‘indulging in conspiracy theories’. She asked: ‘What will they ask for next? A debate on moon landings, a bill for draining Loch Ness or a public inquiry into whether the earth is flat?’

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Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to say when he first suggested Sue Gray work for him as his chief of staff.