Sue Gray resignation: A ‘bruising’ experience for her – and Keir Starmer
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Sue Gray has stepped down as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, saying headlines about her salary and influence in government have become a distraction for the Labour Party.
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In brief…
Read time: 4 mins
- Sue Gray says she has stepped down to ensure the Labour government can implement its “vital work of change.”
- The News Agents ask whether she should have been offered, or accepted, the job months after completing her investigation into ‘Partygate’ at 10 Downing Street during the pandemic.
- Labour was expected to offer an “orderly” government after 14 years of Tory rule, but the reality has been very different.
What's the story?
"Labour was supposed to end the chaos, the endless comings and goings from Downing Street," says Lewis Goodall.
"Yet here we are all over again."
He's talking about the departure of Sue Gray from Downing Street, after Keir Starmer's former chief of staff announced her resignation from the role on Sunday 6 October.
It was a surprise – sure, but at the same time deeply inevitable, considering the mounting hostility towards her from the press, her political rivals and even colleagues within Labour.
Gray has faced criticism for her salary (she earned more than the PM), for allegedly taking over roles meant to be fulfilled by MPs. Gray was even said to be pulling the strings when it came to Labour's communications, leading to some placing blame on her for the handling of the backlash to government ministers accepting Taylor Swift tickets and other freebies in recent weeks.
"In recent weeks it has become clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction to the government’s vital work of change," Gray said as she confirmed her resignation.
She will be replaced by former chief adviser to Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, who previously worked on the Labour Party’s successful election campaign.
Gray will step into a newly-created role of the PM's envoy for nations and regions, which Starmer said he was "delighted" with.
Are people out to get Sue Gray?
How did we get here?
The knives were out for Sue Gray the moment she stepped into her role as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff in early 2023.
That was from Conservatives, angry that the former civil servant who had overseen the investigation in ‘Partygate’ at 10 Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic had taken a key role with the then-opposition.
"The conservative press never really forgave her for that, and certainly Boris Johnson hasn't," says Lewis Goodall.
"It didn't look great, did it. Sue Gray, ultimately, was the person investigating him, and two months later, went to become Keir Starmer's chief of staff."
But it was when her Labour colleagues began sharpening their blades that Gray’s position with the party became unsustainable, and on Sunday 6 October she quit her £170,000 role.
It was this salary that began her undoing in the current government, when it was leaked to the press in September that she was taking home £3,000 more than Keir Starmer was earning a year as Prime Minister.
While this was the headline across the nation's news media when it emerged in September, as far as Jon Sopel is concerned, barely registers as part of the story.
"I don't think that what she was earning is the significant or interesting bit about it," he says.
"It was the fact that people were prepared to do this to Sue Gray."
What the leaks told us about the Labour Party?
The News Agents have previously discussed how the Sue Gray situation was less about her salary, and more about the “toxicity” it highlighted within the Labour Party.
Labour’s former chief of staff, Sam White, told The News Agents that what was "unsustainable" within the Labour Party was the leaking to journalists which led to details of Sue Gray's salary first being shared with the press.
"When there's stuff leaking out, it's really corrosive to trust and to a sense of team," he said.
"It really starts to undermine people's ability to speak freely, their confidence in their colleagues.”
Some of the toxicity, The News Agents say, is believed to have stemmed from scenarios such as who sat closest to Starmer in Downing Street, or who was invited to chat with the PM on FaceTime.
What's The News Agents' take?
The Sue Gray situation has come at a huge cost to her, and perhaps more notably, to Keir Starmer.
"There is a feeling that one of the reasons this Labour government has got off to a rocky start is that they haven't had the right people in the right jobs," says Lewis.
"We can deduce from this that Keir Starmer must certainly think that, because there is no way if he thought his government had got off to a good start, that he would be doing this, that he would be replacing his chief of staff, his most senior aide. at profound embarrassment to himself, and indeed to her as well.
He adds this will have been a "very bruising experience" for Gray.
"The truth is, I don't think he should have ever offered her that job," he adds.
"And to be honest, I don't think she should have ever accepted it, not least because of her role in partygate."
Jon recalls how, in those hazy days before the July election, Labour was promising to be an "orderly government".
"It was going to be delivering on the goals of this government," he says.
"But immediately after the election, you got the briefing and counter briefing of senior journalists about just how toxic the environment was within Downing Street.
"What a cost is being paid in terms of Starmer's reputation."
Listen in full on The News Agents.
