The stated primary purpose is to obtain a "general understanding of the nature of the gatherings, including attendance, the setting and the purpose". So there's not much for her to investigate, is there?
https://twitter.com/JMPSimor/status/1481417159444250627
Also, Sue Gray is a civil servant, not a lawyer. She cannot decide whether the "gatherings" broke the rules in place at the time. Will she have legal advisors, and on what will they be empowered to give opinions?
It is telling that Johnson's statement at PMQs was, as @AdamWagner1 put it, "obviously lawyered", but there isn't a lawyer in sight in the investigation on which the Tory Party is pinning its hopes.
Johnson is using an internal investigation within the Civil Service as a means of evading his personal responsibility for... anything, really.
So it's not just Reynolds who is being thrown under the bus. A highly-regarded civil servant with impeccable credentials has been set up as an Aunt Sally. Sue Gray could hardly refuse the brief, but it will destroy her.
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