THE name ‘Sue Gray’ has certainly come under the spotlight in recent weeks, but while many will associate her as the civil servant who found ‘failures’ in Boris Johnson’s leadership this week, here in Fermanagh we associate her as simply one of our own.
Yes, you heard it – one of our own! The Herald can reveal that Leo Gray, the father of Sue Gray is in fact a Belcoo man who still has relatives living in the Holywell area of Belcoo and across the wider Fermanagh area.
The senior cabinet office employee previously ran a pub in Newry with her Irish husband, and is now one the most talked-about individuals in the UK.
The top civil servant was tasked with investigating alleged breaches of the Covid-19 restrictions at Downing Street, involving parties and gatherings during the height of lockdown.
On Monday, Ms Gray concluded there was a “failure of leadership” over the 16 events she examined, however the full report has not been published while the police investigate alleged Covid rule breaking.
Ms Gray said she had been “extremely limited” by the police investigation in how much she could say, so a “meaningful” report could not be released yet.
In the published update that came out on Monday, she criticised the culture in Downing Street among senior civil servants and staff, arguing that some of the gatherings did not observe the high standards “expected of the entire British population at the time”.
“There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times,” she wrote.
“Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”
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