Sir Keir Starmer on Monday insisted neither he nor Sue Gray were asked to contribute to an investigation into the former senior civil servant being appointed his chief-of-staff.
It follows reports that a Cabinet Office inquiry found partygate investigator Ms Gray breached Whitehall impartiality rules by holding job talks with Labour while still a civil servant.
The senior official, who quit her Second Permanent Secretary role in March, should have declared any potential conflicts of interest when approached by Sir Keir’s office, the investigation reportedly found.
“I don’t know anything about this Cabinet Office inquiry, Sir Keir told ITV.
“Nobody asked me, or as far as I know, Sue, any questions in relation to it.
“So I don’t know where that has come from, I don’t know who wrote it, I haven’t seen it, I haven’t been asked to contribute towards it.”
Ms Gray’s union, the FDA, has said she denies breaching her employment contract or the ministerial code.
Separately, Whitehall’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) is due to publish a recommendation on how long she has to wait before she can take up her job in Sir Keir’s office.
It is expected to say she can start as chief of staff in the autumn.
It comes as Sir Keir on Monday laid out the details of Labour’s proposal to launch Great British Energy as part of a strategy to turn the UK into a clean energy superpower.
The publicly owned company would be headquartered in Scotland will “cut bills, create jobs and provide energy security”, the Labour leader said.
A “British Jobs Bonus” would encourage energy developers to invest in the UK’s “industrial heartlands and coastal communities”, he added.
The policy echoes President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to spur investment in green technology in the United States through grants and tax credits to firms.
“As part of its Green Prosperity Plan, Labour is setting aside a fund of up to £500m for each of its first five years to provide incentives for companies to manufacture in Britain’s industrial heartlands and coastal communities,” Sir Keir said during a speech in Edinburgh.
