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Sue Gray has resigned from her role as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, citing a “risk of distraction”.
She was involved in a spat over her salary after BBC News revealed that her salary was higher than Sir Keir’s and was a donation from Sir Waheed Ali.
A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed that Ms Gray, who became well-known as a party pollster, will take on a new role as the prime minister’s special envoy to the country and region.
Labor has announced that Gray will be replaced by Morgan McSweeney, a former chief of staff to the prime minister and leader of Labour’s general election campaign.
Mr Gray said it had been a privilege to “play a role in delivering a Labor government” as Lord Keir’s chief of staff, both in the Opposition and in No. 10.
“However, in recent weeks it has become clear that the heated comments surrounding my position risked detracting from the government’s important change work,” she said.
“As such, I have chosen to step aside. I look forward to continuing to support the Prime Minister in my new role.”
Sir Keir thanked Ms Gray for her work and said he was “delighted” to have her by his side in her new role, adding that the reorganization was a sign of his “determination to get it done”.
Defense Secretary John Healey told BBC Breakfast that Mr Gray himself had said he was interfering with the government’s work and “that’s why he stepped aside”.
He said this was not the first time a government center had become a “lightning rod for widespread criticism”.
“At the end of the day, people understand that government is difficult. The standard by which they judge governments is not what they say, but what they do,” Healy added. .
Gray, who has not yet reached his 100th day in office, has been exposed to intense internal briefings and criticism within the government.
This level of dysfunction made Sir Keir realize that something had to change.
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She missed last month’s Labor Party conference because she has been by Sir Keir’s side all last year.
However, the event was overshadowed by controversy over a clothing donation from Labor colleague Sir Ali. She reportedly granted temporary access to Downing Street.
The level of anger towards her at the heart of the government was evidenced by senior sources attempting to leak confidential details of her salary to the BBC.
One of the reasons behind this was that the team’s special advisor was asked to take a pay cut and was dissatisfied with the lack of contract after winning the election.
Nevertheless, Ms Gray still commanded the loyalty of many ministers.
Just a few weeks ago, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Ryder defended Ms Gray’s “extraordinary” work, saying she was being “demonized” in the media without speaking back, and other ministers had expressed displeasure at the “gender discriminatory” tone of the magazine. attack
Supporters have argued that as a career civil servant, Mr Gray can distance himself from the internal struggles of the Labor Party, but one government official said Labor’s right wing is unhappy that it is precisely civil servants who are in charge. That’s why he accused her of “wearing her down.”
The Prime Minister has now restructured his top team, promoting Mr McSweeney as well as making four other appointments, most notably the recruitment of a strategic communications leader.
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Deputy Prime Minister Angela Reiner previously defended Sue Gray
The move comes after several parties privately expressed dissatisfaction with Downing Street’s communications strategy, which resulted in the appointment of James Lyons as head of strategic communications.
Mr Lyons is a former political journalist for the Sunday Times and Daily Mirror who went on to work for the NHS and TikTok.
Lord Keir also appointed two new chiefs of staff, Vidya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson, and a new chief private secretary, Nin Pandit, an important civil service role for every prime minister.
Mr Cuthbertson, a Labor veteran who worked for Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, worked for the opposition Labor Party as a civil servant before being promoted alongside Mr Arakeson, who came in 10th place.
John McTernan, Tony Blair’s former political operations director, said Mr Gray was a “great public servant” and was better suited to his new national and regional role.
“The truth is, if you don’t make a name for yourself in politics, it’s very difficult to run things at the top when you’re in a political role,” he told BBC News.
Sir Gavin Burwell, who worked with Mr Gray as former Prime Minister Theresa May’s chief of staff, told Radio 4’s The World This Weekend that Mr Gray had “made the right decision” to step down from his role. he said.
“On a personal level, I’ve worked closely with Sue… She’s an incredibly dedicated public servant and I feel for her, but I think she made the right decision. “It’s when you get into this kind of work that it becomes very difficult to do the job,” he said.
Tory peers criticized the No. 10 strategy introduced by Lord Keir since becoming Prime Minister, arguing that “No. 10 wasn’t right and we now have a government run by the Treasury, which is too pessimistic and too gloomy”.
Moreover, today is an important moment for the Prime Minister. “We need to get Operation 10 right the second time if we are to regain the political ground we have lost in the past few months,” he added.
